Update: calling Nate and Lynn Morris to Germantown as our pastoral family

[Matthew Grewe]

Dear friends of Germantown Hope,

Greetings from Germantown! I pray you are all well. I wrote in the spring about Germantown Hope's pastoral search and introduced you to Nate Morris, who has served as our interim pastor for the past year. I explained then that Nate and his wife Lynn came to us from our parent church, Spirit and Truth Fellowship in North Philadelphia, with a powerful testimony and a calling to evangelism and discipleship in the city.

This spring and summer have been a season of discernment for the church about calling Nate and Lynn to serve the community here in Germantown on a permanent basis. The church council and congregation have talked and prayed over this decision. Meanwhile, Nate has continued to use his gifts to teach and evangelize in the neighborhood, focused on a one block radius around the church. By praying and watching over the last year and through this summer, Germantown Hope has come to the unanimous decision to call Nate and Lynn to join us as our pastoral family. Tomorrow morning we will worship alongside our parent congregation for a sending service, where the leaders and congregation of Spirit and Truth Fellowship will formally send Nate and Lynn out from their body to join ours in Germantown.

Please pray for this service (it will be at 10 am at Spirit and Truth for anyone in our extended church family who would like to attend) and for the steps ahead. Nate will enter an ordination process prescribed by our local community of church plants, and then by our regional denominational body within the Christian Reformed Church, called the classis. Nate will also continue to serve in a tentmaking capacity as the hard-pressed finances of Germantown Hope mean we can provide only a part-time salary. Please pray for Nate and Lynn as they make this final transition from their home church and for our congregation as we welcome the Morrises and a new chapter in the life of the church.

As you support us in prayer, here are a few current ways in which you might support Germantown Hope financially as the Lord leads:

-Support can be directed specifically to Nate and Lynn for their service to the church. This type of support was a great encouragement to the Lee family during their service as pastoral family and would certainly bless the Morris family at this time.

-The church needs to refinance the mortgage on our building before the spring of 2016. This will lower our expenses in the long term but presents an up-front cost that strains our savings. A gift toward this specific need will help us to continue ministering out of 5029 Wayne Avenue.

-Nate is leading a house church/Bible study gathering on Wednesdays that has seen several passers-by on the street become regular attendees. Church members have been providing a lunch for this gathering. Giving toward this ministry will help the church to provide more simple soup-and-sandwich type meals and fellowship.

-The church needs a new basement humidifier (estimated cost $150-200) to keep that part of our building dry.

-Lastly, we have benefited since our founding from the ongoing support of many brothers and sisters outside the church. Much of this disappeared, for understandable reasons, during the recession of 2008-9, and it has not returned. A one-time or monthly gift for our operating expenses would be a great encouragement to us.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Again, please remember us in our celebration with Nate and Lynn tomorrow and in the ongoing process of welcoming them to this local part of Christ's body.

In His peace,

Matthew Grewe

deacon, Germantown Hope