Dear CGS Family,
As we prepare for our upcoming Town Hall on Sunday, we want to pause and give thanks. The Lord has been faithful to our congregation, sustaining us through seasons of change, providing abundantly for our needs, and bringing us into a season of renewed mission and vision. Truly, we can say with the psalmist: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:3).
Please review the summary below as it is designed to help you enter our meeting together with joy and anticipation. You’ll find a quick snapshot of program and ministry updates, including a brief financial update and the results of our July Officer’s Retreat, as well as other relevant and essential information about this season in the life of our church.
We look forward to gathering with you, praying together, and pressing on with gratitude and expectation. May Christ be glorified in our life together!
Grace and peace,
Simon Stokes
Lead Pastor
As you read and pray through these highlights, come on Sunday prepared to celebrate God’s faithfulness, listen to one another, and look with hope toward what He has in store for us as His people at CGS.
Financial Snapshot
All thanks and glory be to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Risen Lord and Savior!
- Contributions (Fiscal Year ending 6/30/2025): $2,027,753
- Surplus over expenses: +$157,106
- Ahead of budget: +$77,753 (+3.99%)
Looking ahead: There are major building/HVAC repairs anticipated this Fall.
Staff Updates
- Welcome Angie Heinrich!
Join us in celebrating Angie Heinrich as the next Children’s Ministry Director. This month she will work alongside Bethany Porter in transitioning this role. - Open Staff Position: Communications Strategist
We are seeking a full-time communications strategist who is an excellent writer and editor, a proactive and effective communicator, and a collaborative teammate. This person should be skilled at providing tactical and daily communications support that amplifies the mission of CGS and its ministries and programs. If you, or someone you know, meets that criteria, let us know!
Women’s Ministry
The Women’s Ministry has a lot of exciting initiatives coming up.
- Wednesday Women’s Bible Study starts on September 17 and runs through March.
- The Interiors Committee is working to refresh, soften, and update areas of our church.
- A Support Team has been formed for women experiencing acute crises.
- Lastly, the women’s retreat date is set for February 13 in Greensboro. It will be for one night and registration opens in early November. It’s going to be a meaningful time with old and new friends!
Look for details coming soon about each of these initiatives and activities.
Young Adults Ministry
Give thanks for how God has been working in our midst over the summer!
- 15 new young adults have joined our community, some who have been visiting our church and others who were invited by our people.
- We enjoyed monthly Summer Evening Conversations, building relationships over a meal, welcoming new people, and hearing wisdom from those in our church who were young adults back in the 2000’s.
- We are looking forward to the upcoming Young Adults Retreat later this month.
- Join us in asking God to work in our midst over the fall
Community Groups
We covet your prayers:
- As we seek to enfold new people into community groups and work toward starting at least one new young adult community group.
- For continued monthly dinner and discussion evenings this Fall to deepen friendships, enfold new people, and build intergenerational relationships.
- For God to use our Fall retreat to form a gospel culture even more deeply in our community. Our topic is Gospel Identity—growing more confident in who we are already in Christ and living more fully out of this identity. We have a full house with several new people.
CGS Garden
Amazing growth has happened at the CGS gardens since we broke ground in March; please stop by and enjoy the spaces!
- The courtyard between the offices and nursery entrance has been transformed into a cut flower and pollinator garden with picnic benches and umbrellas for meet ups and meals as well as the Women’s Ministry Memory Bench.
- The raised bed plantings atop the berm had mixed success: soil testing revealed nutrient deficiencies that we are partnering with the Environmental Science class at Trinity School to amend in the hopes of a harvest next summer that will be large enough to donate.
- The tarps on the side of the berm are there to kill grass and weeds to prepare for the planned wildflower prairie, with planting and seed scattering to come in late September.
- Workdays happen every Saturday morning through October at the gardens, and there will be a big planting day on October 18th when we would love the help of the congregation.
We appreciate your prayers as we move at the pace that the Lord moves and grows!
Results of July Officers’ Retreat
In July, our officers (elders and deacons), along with our ministry staff and session advisors, participated in an in-town retreat here at CGS. The focus was to set the stage for the upcoming mission and vision work by exploring what we believed were the “core loves” that marked our church. Next, we explored a key question: “How might we cultivate a love for Jesus that gives us discerning power to change well?”
Mission and Vision: Next Steps
- Look for a congregational 3-question survey in your email next week. Your responses will help us understand how you are experiencing some aspects of our church.
- Swing by the Vision and Voices Board in the Narthex and take a few minutes to write out a response to the question displayed. We’ll be changing the prompt every two weeks, and your responses will be part of our preparation for the church-wide retreat happening in November.
Mission and Vision Committee Member Nominations
We are seeking qualified and willing members of the church to work on a committee to help facilitate the mission and vision process. These will be people nominated from the congregation and selected by the session. Nominations are open September 7 -14. The committee will be announced the final week of September.
This committee will have four primary responsibilities:
- Help think through and advise the process of reimagining the mission and vision.
- Organize the evenings of prayer and praise.
- Help to excite and engage our members in the process.
- Organize the church-wide retreat and facilitate breakout workshops.
If you, or someone you know, would be a good fit, please consider this committee.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
(Ephesians 3:20–21)