Our Women’s Ministry exists to spur women on in their pursuit of Christ through biblical discussion and building friendships. Each month the ladies of CGSA meet together for a time of discussion and prayer in order to grow in Christ and grow as friends. Tonight they’ll gather to experience biblical fellowship, share their lives, and encourage each other in the gospel.
This Sunday is the 5th Sunday in April, so we’ll only offer the Preschool Class. All kids 6 and up will remain with us after the singing portion of our service to hear the preached word outside of their usual classroom setting. We’ll have coloring sheets, our pastors will prepare the kids to listen well to the Sunday sermon, and children and their parents will hear the gospel side by side.
We believe this break will provide an opportunity to bridge the gap between Children’s Ministry and the regular life of the church and get our kids ready for what comes next once they graduate from the Elementary Class. We also believe it will provide a helpful pattern of rest for our Children’s Ministry volunteers who serve so joyfully and selflessly every Sunday morning.
Prayer is central to our mission of spreading the joy of Jesus in our city. Next Thursday, we have the privilege of partnering with pastors and community leaders in Santa Ana to seek God’s glory and our neighbor’s good through prayer. Mark your calendars, stop by on your lunch break, and join us downtown at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana as we gather together with the church in our city for the good of our city.
Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
6:30 am - French Park Grass Area
7:00 pm - Schlieder Home
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Courtyard
It’s here! The sixth edition of the Sovereign Grace Journal. It’s written by Sovereign Grace pastors for the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches. We hope you will enjoy reading it. You can download the entire PDF here. Or purchase a hard copy here.
This past Sunday, pastor Ricky Alcantar shared 5 helpful steps to practically live out the mission God has called us to.
Your mission field is where you live and do life with those who don’t know Jesus. So the question is not “am I called to a mission field” but “how do I engage the mission field God has already given me?” Below are some examples of mission fields in our lives:
Your workplace
Your neighborhood,
Kid’s activity groups
The gym, and many more
We want to relate who we are to why we are. There are plenty of nice people in our world, but we want to connect the way we love and care for people to the love of Jesus. Below are some examples of how we can be known as Christians:
When asked about your week or weekend tell people about church or community group, befriending the friendless, not participating in gossip, speaking well of others behind their backs, comforting others in distress
Pray and ask God to reveal these people to you. What are some ways we can do this?
Get to know people, remember details about their lives and bring them up in future conversations, invite people to lunch and outings, and have longer conversations that are beyond news, weather, sports.
Notice this is not at the beginning of the list! Many times Christians delay in telling others about Jesus, but if we form relationships with people we can learn how to care and love them better. Below are ways this might play out:
Study the Bible: you never know how what you’ve read in your quiet time can impact someone. We need to know how to apply God’s word to others' need for the gospel.
Listen and learn to ask questions! This will help shape your care, prayers, and love towards others in a meaningful way.
As you form relationships, sin, and crisis will create a need in people’s lives that as a Christian friend you will be able to help them see their need for the gospel. People will turn to those who have shown an interest in them as a person. We want to be those Christians people turn to. You may see this in times of sickness, relationships/marriage/parenting, or personal crisis.
There are opportunities all around you every day to be a witness to the gospel. Let’s lean into what Jesus is doing in our city and join him on his mission to bring our neighbors from death to life through the message of the gospel.
Two Sundays ago, we laid out the theological principles for mission and evangelism. Filling ourselves with the God of the gospel so that his gospel would overflow from us. This past Sunday, guest preacher, Ricky Alcantar from our sister church, Cross of Grace El Paso, turned our attention to the Book of Acts to look at the progress of the gospel in God's history of redemption. The story of the gospel going forth: from Jesus himself, to that early church, and onto us today. Let’s see our church in this great story God is writing and lean into what Jesus is continuing to do in and through his people.
This Sunday, immediately after service, we’ll be walking over to French Park to eat lunch and enjoy one another’s company while in the midst of the neighborhood God has placed us in. Here are the details:
It’s “BYOL” (bring your own lunch). If you forget your lunch or your favorite lunchbox isn’t clean, there are plenty of great restaurants nearby in DTSA.
It’s optional - but we highly encourage coming!
Bring some folding chairs - unless you like sitting on the grass, bring something to sit on.
Expect the Lord to build existing relationships and create new ones with our neighbors
Every year our pastors join with pastors in our denomination from the southwest United States for a regional retreat. There’s prayer, teaching, singing, fellowship, business meetings, and even some good-natured competition. The retreat is hosted here in Orange County this week.
We’d like to ask you to pray for their time together. Here are a few things to cover:
Ask God to give grace to Pastor Eric as he leads.
Ask God to give the pastors unique opportunities to minister to each other.
Ask God to grow the friendships of the pastors in the region.
Ask God to use this meeting to further their shared gospel mission.
Ask God to bless their families while the men are away.
The City of Santa Ana is hosting their annual Fun Run, which includes a Kid Dash, 5K/10K Fun Run and Fit Festival. This is a great opportunity to grab some friends, and make some new friends while walking/running throughout Santa Ana. Registration is open and ongoing. The event takes place April 21st & 22nd.
