A Pastoral Word | March

by Chris Price

March 7, 2024

Hi Way Church family,

For those of you who don’t know, one of my roles at the church is leading the teaching team so in this letter I want to share a bit about the heart behind our series on The Gospel According to Mark.

Annual Community Meeting Recap

Before I do it is worth noting we had our first-ever Annual Community Meeting (ACM) recently. It was a time to be reminded of all that God has done over the past year, to worship and celebrate together as a church. More than that, as a leadership team we wanted to answer some very important questions that people frequently ask. For example, what is the budget of the church? How is the budget formed and approved? What is our governance structure? How do we take care of our staff? What are our plans for the future? Big questions that deserve thoughtful, nuanced answers. We took time at the ACM to address all of the above and it was such a positive, life-giving experience for us as a community. If you missed the evening, much of the information can be found in our Annual Report that you can access here but we’d also be happy to answer any questions you might have. Always feel free to reach out.

The Gospel of Mark

Over the last several years, we have done a lot of teaching on God’s law, or God’s commands. In doing so, we have always emphasized a Gospel framework that views obedience to God’s commands as a response to His love and grace, not as a means to earning it. The Sermon on the Mount Series and The Ten Commandments Series both leaned heavily in the direction of theological ethics, so we decided it would be worthwhile to spend a bunch of months exploring the Gospel of Mark together. 

I’d love to take a moment and let you in on some of the major themes we are exploring together.

Theme 1: The Kingdom

We will spend plenty of time speaking about the good news of God’s kingdom. 

What is the kingdom of God? 

How does it grow? What does it mean to participate in God’s kingdom? Why is God’s kingdom good news for our world? 

We will also investigate how Jesus’ signs and wonders illustrate the kingdom breaking in and what his acts of power tell us about the nature of God. 

Theme 2: The Servant King

The Gospel begins with the announcement of good news. It is not just good news about a different kind of kingdom, it is good news about a different kind of king. 

The servant king. 

The suffering king. 

The king who rules, not through armies, or assemblies, or from palaces and through courts, but through sacrificial love most clearly demonstrated by him “giving his life as a ransom for many.” 

Theme 3: The Cost 

To follow Jesus is to apprentice under His way of life. To quote John Mark Comer, it is to “be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do the things Jesus did.” 

There is, of course, a cost to following Jesus. 

Throughout the Gospel According to Mark the cost is highlighted: a willingness to drop all and follow Jesus, a willingness to deny ourselves and pick up our cross, a willingness to take on the posture of the lowest servant etc.

All of these themes will emerge in our study together. 

Theme 4: The Cross 

Many scholars have viewed the Gospel of Mark as a passion narrative with a long introduction. 

All scholars mean by this is that Mark gives the reader the sense that he is rushing, rushing, rushing through the ministry of Jesus until he hits the last week in Jesus’ life—the passion week. 

Then Mark slows right down and lets the reader feel the heightened drama of Jesus’ final hours. Throughout The Gospel According to Mark we will study the meaning of the cross and celebrate a king who has come to seek and save the lost. 

All in all, Mark acts as a comprehensive discipleship manual that exalts the servant King, Jesus and invites us to follow him. 

I'm excited to spend the next months studying it together as a community. 

Whereas Sunday morning teaching is a monologue, or a speech, small groups are a great environment for dialogue; a chance to interact with the content, wrestle through its implications, and apply it to our lives individually and as a community.

 So, as we explore the Gospel of Mark, I would really encourage you to join one of our small groups meeting throughout the week in different neighbourhoods and cities

Chris

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