April 24, 2024

Dear Rockford Reformed Church family and friends,

We are really, really preparing to enjoy and celebrate our first day in the renovated sanctuary on May 5. Stage lighting, audio, and visual equipment installation, along with some final small details, are still being addressed. But, we are moving in a week from Sunday! We will praise God for his provision of this beautiful space and celebrate with a dedication during our worship. We will then gather for a great lunch in the Family Life Center with pulled pork, chicken, and much more. If you would like, please bring one of your best desserts to share. If it doesn’t work for you to bring a dessert, certainly join us anyway.

The heart of this renovation, with a brighter, open, contemporary space, and especially the new fellowship lobby, has been a focus on welcome. We will be open for “business” in a new way with our “someday” vision of drawing people into the kingdom through the “everyday” gospel. And this all begins with our faithfulness in outreach, invitation, hospitality, making new friends, investing in, and discipling others. So, invite friends, neighbors, co-workers or family to join us for this celebration and the lunch!

May 12 will include distributing carnations to the women and mothers who join us on Mother’s Day. We will welcome several new members and celebrate the sacrament of baptism on May 19. We will be open for “business” in other ways this year as well. Beginning in September, we are excited to be hosting the Rockford area women’s Bible Study Fellowship gatherings on Thursday mornings. In October, we will host a women’s DeColores (spiritual renewal) retreat weekend. In January, we look forward to hosting “A Praying Life” seminar for our church family and area believers. Those are just a few of the ways that this facility will be used for the kingdom in our community.

Our Lord’s faithful and gracious blessing is wonderfully evident as we start this new chapter in the renovated space. It’s most appropriate that we would be faithful and gracious with our lives—including our financial giving toward his ministry here and toward the Welcome renovation. I encourage you to be generous in a way that reflects his amazing generosity to us. And we will celebrate and point to Jesus for every step of the journey toward our vision together.

It's a pleasure to serve with you all. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Tim