{"id":5067,"date":"2015-01-16T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=5067"},"modified":"2015-01-16T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T13:00:48","slug":"ebrethren-1-16-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2015\/01\/16\/ebrethren-1-16-15\/","title":{"rendered":"New steps in the new year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Where<\/a>
Where will God lead you in 2015?
Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications<\/p>\n

<\/em>January can be a great time for setting goals and reflecting; a time to observe our steps from last year and chart a new path for this year. We might make personal challenges related to fitness, nutrition, recreation, relationships, or finances, but sometimes we also receive challenges from God.<\/p>\n

God has surely given great challenges to others in the past. For Abraham, God called him to leave his family and explore a foreign land filled with unfamiliar people. For Esther, God led her to a new role and called her to take a great risk to save her people. For both, the choice was available to reject God\u2019s call, but by trusting in God and summoning a great amount of courage, they stepped forward and accepted God\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n

In 2015, there are many events and opportunities to partake in ministry through the Church of the Brethren. Perhaps God is calling you to participate in one or more of the following ways:<\/p>\n

Pray<\/strong> for our international partners by receiving the weekly Global Mission Prayer Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Grow<\/strong> by attending a transformative conference like the\u00a0Intercultural Gathering<\/a>, Young Adult Conference<\/a>, National Junior High Conference<\/a>, Annual Conference<\/a>, and National Older Adult Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Serve<\/strong> through Brethren Volunteer Service<\/a> for a year-long project, attend a summer workcamp<\/a>\u00a0of the Workcamp Ministry, or spend a week at a disaster project of Brethren Disaster Ministries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Give<\/strong> to support<\/a> the continued work of the many life-changing ministries of the Church of the Brethren.<\/p>\n

Like Abraham and Esther, we have the choice to remain where we are or to follow where God is leading. While it would be easier to carry on in 2015 just as we did in 2014, God may be challenging us to do something new. May we listen to the Spirit of God, step forward in faith, and trust God to guide our steps in the coming year.<\/p>\n

(Read this issue of eBrethren<\/a>)\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications January can be a great time for setting goals and reflecting; a time to observe our steps from last year and chart a new path for this year. We might make personal challenges related to fitness, nutrition, recreation, relationships, or finances, but sometimes we also receive challenges from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[77,149,153,357,505,620,786,788,1228,1243],"class_list":["post-5067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebrethren","tag-annual-conference","tag-brethren-disaster-ministries","tag-brethren-volunteer-service","tag-ebrethren","tag-global-mission-and-service","tag-intercultural-ministries","tag-national-junior-high-conference","tag-national-older-adult-conference","tag-workcamps","tag-youth-and-young-adult-ministries"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}