04/03/2023
Earlier this year, Agape Baptist Church made a significant decision. Recognizing the place that we find ourselves in our journey, our congregation decided that it is time for Agape Baptist Church to come to its ending. It was a difficult decision for many reasons, but we know that it is time.
It would be impossible to make mention of all the ways that God has been good to us. Throughout the church’s journey, God has provided such rich fellowship, such transformative worship and discipleship, and such meaningful opportunities to join in God’s mission of redemption and restoration. For all this and more, we have every reason to say, “Thanks be to God!”
We are confident that the ending of Agape Baptist Church begins the next chapter of God’s ongoing work. Through this process, the people of Agape Baptist Church have been intentional and forward-looking, seeking to create a legacy that will carry on far beyond us. In this, we are confident that God will do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”
Easter Sunday, April 9, will be the final Sunday gathering of Agape Baptist Church. We chose this date because we believe that death is not the end of the story. Just as Jesus overcame death in his resurrection, we believe in the power of resurrection in us. We follow the one that knows the way out of the grave, the one that is “the resurrection and the life.” In Jesus, death has been swallowed up in victory. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
You are invited to join us on Easter Sunday at 11:00am, as we celebrate resurrection together. We also invite you to come together on Sunday, April 23 at 4:00pm in Faith Hall for a Legacy Fellowship. This informal gathering is for all past and present members and friends of the church.
In the same way that we close our gatherings, we offer this benediction to you:
May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how high and wide and long and deep is the love of God, that you may know this love that surpasses understanding, that you may be filled with the fullness of God.
Now to God, who is able to accomplish immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
