December 11, 2025
Here we are again in that season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when calendars fill up with parties, gift-giving, gift shopping, gift receiving, and all the joyful busyness that comes with it.
It’s also a time when many of us start looking forward to the New Year and what we hope for as we continue walking forward together.
In the midst of all of this, we want to ask you to pause for just a moment, and a little further down the road with us, dream about what God might have in store for our community here at Corinth.
This is, of course, the time of year when many think about your end-of-year giving, which, to be completely honest, we would be grateful for your generosity. Your gifts fuel ministry here in our small corner of SW Michigan and ripple out into the world. But before we talk about what we hope to accomplish, we want to share why we’re dreaming in the first place.
I (Jared) have now been here long enough to begin to get my feet wet in our community. It takes time to really know a people. And frankly, some of you make it a fun challenge! (Only kidding, mostly.)
But in our time together, many of you have given thoughtful insight and honest feedback about who we are, where we long to go, and how we can move forward together. Your wisdom has helped shape our hearts for the future.
In the next couple of months, we’ll be gathering our leaders to begin strategizing and developing a five-year plan. Before we talk about our goals or timelines, we want to anchor everything in the deeper question:
Why should we give our time, our resources, our passions, our abilities toward the work of our community for God’s glory?
Because for us, it’s a dream, a vision of what could be.
Even more, it’s a vision of what we can build together!
We live in a world with struggle and pain. People are lonely and searching for a place to belong. Many feel anxious about the future–economically, politically, culturally. Families are stretched thin; life feels harder than it used to.
But imagine five years from now…
What if Corinth became known throughout our community as a place where the lonely come to be known and loved? Because God is at work in us, creating a community of authentic belonging.
Where peace reigns in the midst of fear? Because God’s Spirit is forming us into a people marked by His presence and peace.
A community that equips people with the skills, confidence, and courage to lead the next generation? Because God is shaping us, gifting us, and sending us to invest in others.
What if everyone within five miles of our building–even those who do not yet believe in Christ–thought of Corinth as a community that brings good into the world?
This is the dream behind our vision:
Corinth is a welcoming community of authentic belonging,
deeply dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit,
and called to build relationships with all people in all places.
This vision echoes Paul’s encouragement in 4:15-16: “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body… makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
We don’t want Corinth to be only a place where people worship Jesus on Sunday; we want it to be the place where the worship of Jesus transforms everyday life and blesses the world around us, where the work of Christ changes lives.
Even writing it down gets us excited to see what God might do among us!
In the months ahead, you’ll see more intentional planning about how we can move toward this vision together–and ways you can be part of it.
One way is to consider Corinth in your end-of-year giving. Your generosity helps move our mission forward.
Thank you for your faithfulness, commitment, and patience over the last couple of years as we’ve been gearing up for what’s next. We are genuinely excited to walk this journey with you.
With gratitude and hope,
Jason and Jared