Letter to the Church
To the leadership, members, and friends: Greetings in Christ!
It is with great appreciation to the Lord and His leading in my life that my family and I now continue our journey here at Cornerstone Community SDA Church, serving as your servant-Pastor. In addition to our assignment at Cornerstone, we are also helping the French Bethany SDA Company in Calgary.
I wanted to be sure to take this opportunity to send you a letter of thanks as well as for accepting us here as part of your church family, and rest assured, my wife and I are looking forward to a joyous and fruitful ministry in the years to come by the grace of God. We have been indeed given the most incredible privilege ever granted to mortal man, the right of proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the world and the whole counsel of God to His Church. It is my privilege to call you fellow-labourers for the Lord.
As you are all aware, the pandemic has changed our lives drastically. Most of us have never seen anything like this. The pandemic has interrupted our lives. Some of us have suffered the premature death of loved ones. Others continue to live with severe pain and suffering. People are losing their jobs. Many of us have been placed under orders not to leave our homes. In most of our communities, guidelines have been given to limit public gatherings. Indeed, this pandemic has been hard for all of us.
We are watching the Church prove itself to be incredibly adaptable as orders to stay at home have not ended. Our collective need even in times like these is to give our thanks to God. Churches that have never gathered on digital platforms or never thought they would need to, are now doing just that, and experiencing something very profound and significant. We have heard stories of families spread across the country being able to gather for the same worship service via Zoom or other virtual platforms. That is such a meaningful gift the Church has to offer in a season such as this.
We grieve deeply with you the losses we are all living with, but we also celebrate a body of Christ that can adapt quickly to meet the emerging needs. We hope and pray that what we are learning about ourselves as a result of the pandemic on our capacity for grace and love, would continue to enrich us.
As you may already know, our Church has now shifted to worship virtually. At Cornerstone, the leadership continues to offer programs for us to grow spiritually. Consequently, we invite you to join us!
Please remember that we are God’s people, and Jesus is incarnated in every act of love and kindness we extend towards one another. I believe that the Almighty, Omnipotent God can overcome all the barriers the world can create to reach, revive, and strengthen us through the Holy Spirit in times like these.
We can do this. We are the Church, the body of the risen Christ. As leaders called to serve you, we pledge to you that we will continue to draw on every resource available to help you through these challenging times.
We all need encouragement from time to time to not quit but to keep with it. It is written, in Hebrews 10:24, 25, “And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
God’s blessings upon all!
In His service and at yours,
Pastor Donald Pierre and family