03/20/2023
From Pastor Elijah London
As the Pastor of Sweetwater/ Encounter Church I wanted to take just a moment and speak in response to the message on our page. First of all everyone of you are loved by each one of us. The family of God is much bigger than one church, one name, or one denomination. Any message or response that is made, I pray is made led by the Holy Spirit and out of a Spirit of love. I understand that this is a deeply emotional issue and that many of you may just be learning about this prayerful decision we are undertaking as a body. The decision to Replant this church has come through much prayer and through what we earnestly believe to be the will of God. We in no way have made this decision to dishonor the past and those who have worked hard to see the legacy of Sweetwater be one of honor. I personally honor and celebrate the life, love, and legacy of many amazing women and men of God who I personally never had the privilege of meeting. I did have the privilege of meeting a number of former Sweetwater saints who have worked hard to advance the Kingdom of God. What a privilege it was to even briefly know them. I have heard many stories of the past and as Encounter Church it is not our desire to discount any sacrifice that has been made. As men and women who served as part of the body of Sweetwater over the years, I am sure that also as lovers of Jesus, many would want to do whatever it takes short of sin, to advance the gospel of Jesus. It’s our desire to be as effective as possible in advancing the cause of Jesus in the earth as I am sure was the heart of many of those whose shoulders we stand on today. The legacy of many of your loved ones will never pass away. Their words and deeds as well as ours are recorded in heaven.
The reality is that this precious church has been seeing a slow decline for perhaps the better part of 30 years with seasons of both ebbs and flows. It takes great courage, sacrifice, and faith to do what I am doing as a leader, but it takes much more from each member of this body who has laid down their life and at times their preferences because they have put Jesus before themselves. I am beyond thankful to be a part of such a family. We are a small little family at this moment, but precious is our relationships. I couldn’t be more honored to serve alongside of each one of these family members in Christ who are valiantly leading the way and serving so sacrificially. It’s not our heart to dishonor the work of God in the past and we ask that you please consider not dishonoring the work of God in the present. We will not get it all right or do it all perfectly, but I promise it is our heart to see God glorified, people loved, and the gospel advancing. Please pray for us and that we would continually seek the heart and face of God and that we would stay right in the center of His will. Whether you agree with what we fill led to do or not currently, please know You are loved! We will only open our mouth to bless others! We have some dedicated warriors who have genuinely sacrificed greatly. I appreciate more than I can express the love and support of those who have rallied beside me. I am genuinely a blessed man and I give God all the glory for all He has done, is doing, and will do!
For those who would like to know some more about the reasons for the name change I have listed below some of the reasons we are choosing to change the name.
Why-
1. Encounter Church embrace the vision and mission that God has placed on our hearts
2. Reasons for Baptist name drop- our theology is broader than most Baptist though we still closely align as Baptist and don’t out right contradict our Baptist heritage in any way.
3. I identify as child of God above any denominational name.
4. The distinctions have value, but Most people see denominational titles as divisive.
5. The only people who will normally visit a Baptist church do not expect what we carry, they expect a different experience. People choose not to visit our church because they expect a different experience.
6. Baptist honestly scares away many people who have been burned by deeply religious and legalistic churches.
Why not keep Sweetwater in the title?
Sweetwater is a great name, but the main reason for the change is because people in the community need to see that something totally new is happening hear.
Practically-
keeping Sweetwater makes it seem that we’re the same church.
It makes it hard to differentiate us from the other Sweetwater’s. It’s already confusing for some as it is.
Sweetwater seems to limit our evangelistic reach to a much small community that surrounds us geographically.
Also, Sweetwater as a geographical region doesn’t really exist for anyone anymore, especially new people moving to Hickory.
Encounter Church Hickory shows our community our desire to serve the city of hickory and grows our geographical imprint.
We need a complete refreshment with media, website, social media, etc…
We have revamped each ministry of our church in preparation for the Launch and we look forward to what God is doing with Great expectations! Thank you for reading this and may the Lord bless you!
