I can’t believe that we are already a month into 2023! Seems like January flew by, but it has been encouraging to me to see how the Spirit has been at work in our community even in this short amount of time.  

We started the year off on Sunday mornings talking about the many conflicts we face in life as believers and the call to find our hope and joy and peace ultimately in the transcendent realities of God himself. I know that I have found myself thinking through that lens more often since then, I hope you have been too!  

Not long after that we jumped into a couple of new things to help point us more in that direction as a church. First, we started a new sermon series in the Gospel of Luke where we have been focusing on the life and ministry of Jesus and how he is teaching us what it means to walk the Path to Glory. We also launched our new Pathway rhythms in our Gospel Communities with our first Prayer & Potluck! I thought it was a sweet time together in prayer and I am excited to see what God will work in and through us as we lift our eyes up to him more as a church.  

Financially, things have pretty much gone as expected. We are still operating at a loss (we have been since 2020), although we did come $8,000 under our planned expenses in 2022 so that is good news! In terms of the runway we mentioned back art the Members Meeting that figure hasn't changed, but we will have update on that a figure at the end of this quarter since we make that calculation on a quarterly, not monthly, basis. If you want some more specific stats from our 2022 recap take a look at the infographic linked below.

On another note, a more encouraging highlight from this last month was that Aaron, Kelsey, and I got to attend a conference for church leaders put on by the Church Cooperative of Denver. The conference focused on how to remain connected to God even through the ups and downs of ministry, especially with everything the church and world has been through in the last few years. We also got to attend some helpful workshops including one about learning how to be intentional as the church in your neighborhood! All in all, it was a great time of renewal and worship for us!  

• Don’t forget to send in any Kingdom, Whole Body, or Major Life Concerns requests through the Next Steps bubble before our next prayer night on the 22nd.  
• Arwen Wall is hosting a Galentines Tea at her home on the 19th. RSVP by phone at 608-217-6382 
• If you have any household goods you would like to donate, Sarah Menge is trying to help a new friend from Afghanistan furnish her apartment. 
• Worship Night with Redemption Church is rescheduled for May. 

I hope this new rhythm of newsletters is an encouraging one to you all as we try to remain a gathered church even in our scattered-ness geographically. If you ever have an encouraging story about what God is doing in your GC, neighborhood, DNA, etc.; please share with us so we can share with everyone!  

Love you all! 

Ben Menge 

Worship Pastor