God has called us to share life together and we are a people who reach up to God (Worship), reach in to one another (Community), and reach out to the world (Ministry). The images above are snapshots which capture what we are all about. Whether it is a Sunday morning activity, a Midweek event, or a Thursday morning gathering, God’s people who are called Paducah’s First Baptist Church are about Worship, Community, and Ministry.
First and foremost, we are a worshipping community. God has loved us. He has redeemed us and made us right with himself. Therefore, we see the rest of life as a response to him. Weekly, we gather together to worship him and Colossians 3:16 describes who we are: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thanksgiving in your heart to God.
Not only has God called us to himself—he has called us to one another! We belong to God and we belong to one another. As a church family, we walk through life together. We share our lives together. We rejoice with one another. We do life together, and we do life together the way the Bible tells us to do life together. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. 1 Peter 2:9-10
We reach up to God in worship and we reach in to one another in biblical community. In addition, we also are a people who reach out in ministry to the world around us. Whether it be right here in Paducah or all the way around the world, we know that God has called us to share the message of the gospel with those around us. God has loved us, and because he has shown us his love, we seek to minister God’s love to the world. A new commandment I give you, that you love on another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. John 13:34-35, Matthew 28:19
Empowered by God’s Spirit and committed to his Word, may God bless us—and may God bless the world as we do life together.
What a joy it is pastoring our faith family!
Pastor Todd
