Newsletter Article | September 13, 2026

What Comes First?

As we continue shaping the future of St. Luke-Simpson, there are plenty of important questions before us.

What ministries should we strengthen? Where should we invest our energy? How do we reach new people? How do we develop disciples? How can we better serve our community?

All of those questions matter. There is one question, though, that has to come before every other one:

Are we putting God first?

This Sunday, we begin with the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Jesus later gathers the heart of the commandments into two great calls: love God with everything we are and love our neighbor as ourselves. 

That order matters.

Before we create programs, make plans, or decide what the future should look like, we have to seek God first. Our vision cannot simply reflect what we want St. Luke-Simpson to become. It should reflect who God is calling us to become.

That is why our three vision movements belong together:

Encounter the Grace of Jesus.
Being Made Into Disciples.
Serve Our Neighbors.

Everything begins with God’s grace.

We encounter the God who loved us first, who has already acted to rescue and redeem us, and who invites us to trust him above everything else. From there, grace begins reshaping our lives. We are being made into disciples who learn to put God first, not only on Sunday mornings, but in our decisions, relationships, priorities, and daily lives.

Then we are sent to serve.

Our future will not be built simply by adding more activity. It will be built by becoming more deeply rooted in Jesus Christ.

That means one of the most important questions we can continue asking during this season of visioning is not simply, “What should our church do next?”

Perhaps the better question is:

“What does faithfulness to God require of us next?”

If we keep that question in front of us, the rest of our vision begins to take shape in the right order.

God first.

Then everything else.

Grace and peace,
Rev. Bradley