A Word From Karl

September 2024

I came across a saying the other day that stopped me in my tracks. It was presented as a spiritual practice that a colleague of mine, another ECC pastor, has cultivated with her congregation for a few years. Here is the practice. I think you will immediately see how powerful it is in our modern context.

“Get curious before you get furious.”

The pastor I heard this from is Cheryl Lynn Cain. I read it in an interview she gave that was written up in our denominational magazine, The Covenant Companion, you can read the article here if you want.

Here is why it caught my attention regarding our shared work of discernment as a church community. If we take seriously God’s presence and activity in our life, and if we make the work of discerning his leading the priority ahead of everything else, then we must acknowledge something.

God is also present and active in others’ lives.

It might sound simplistic, but there are serious implications. While God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, he also works in new ways in people’s lives each day. His mercies, this is a translation of the amazing word, Hesed, are new every morning. (Watch a great video intro to that Hebrew word here.) None of us are at the same point on our journey. Scripture makes it clear that God regularly does his unchanging work of redemption in surprising ways.

God might be doing something different in their life than he is doing in yours.

The moment we recognize this, it becomes an invitation. We can be curious about the different, unexpected, surprising, maybe even (to our eyes at least) unseen work of God in the life of other people. We can get curious instead of furious. Especially if those people are making choices, interpreting scripture, or building the kingdom in ways different from how we are doing it in our lives. Fury is too easy of a default in the celebrated outrage culture of our world (Here’s an interesting article from NPR on the role of outrage in our culture.) Plus, we must acknowledge another obvious thing about our world.

Our news feeds, influencers on social media, and other influential personalities are all privileged when they get furious.

Getting furious is a great way to get a platform.

But, getting furious is not a good way to get a platform for Christ and his kingdom. The Kingdom of God is built when we give up our power, not when we build up our platform. The Kingdom of God is advanced when people sacrifice for the sake of others, not when they tear down others.

Are you more interested in building your platform than building the kingdom? Are you more interested in adding your voice to the crowd or carrying your cross?

Now, let’s be clear here. Jesus himself got angry. There is a time and a place for anger. And there may be platforms you need to support. But that time and place comes on the other side of humility, confession, and repentance. You get furious only after you get curious. I have said it before, but it bears repeating. Take a quick audit of how many hours per week you spend reading the news. How often does that make you afraid, angry, upset, or a little frantic. Go ahead, count all the hours.

If you aren’t spending twice as much time every week on confession, repentance, and humble prayer than you spend watching and getting anxious about the news, it may be hard to believe you truly put the Kingdom first in your life. And let’s be clear, I am one of the culprits here!

This Newsletter was just rebranded with a new name, Going Deeper. I share this practice and this challenge because I long for all of us to pause long enough to see God’s deeper leading instead of falling into the trap of flowing with a broken cultural current. One beautiful way to do that is to

Get curious before you get furious.

May it be so for all of us, may it be so in our relationships with one another, may it be so as we share the hope of the kingdom with those around us.

Grace and peace,

Karl Helvig
Lead Pastor, Centennial Covenant Church

Story Highlights

• Shout out to the ten individuals who are growth coaches. They have spent hours in training, in prayer, and in preparation for our upcoming Growth Challenge.
• There are a bunch of kids in our His Kids children’s ministry and the team is doing an amazing job of loving, caring for, and teaching the love of God to our children from nursery through elementary school. Way to go His Kids!
• Shout out to Marsha Olsoen, who led worship a couple Sundays ago. This was her first time leading the rehearsal on Thursday night and leading the team Sunday morning. Great work!
• It is exciting to see nearly 40 people signed up for The Growth Challenge. May God continue to build a culture of discipleship here at Centennial.
• Our new Youth Director, Amelia, kicked off Studio72 on Sunday and it went great! Shout out to her new leadership of our student ministries.

There are always so many amazing stories of God at work in and through the people of CCC. If you want to give a shoutout to someone or share a story of how you have seen God at work, send an email to me at khelvig@centcov.org. Make the subject line, “Story to Share” if you think of it.

Monthly Financial Update

Centennial Family,

As we approach the end of our fiscal year (October through September), I want to express my deep gratitude. Looking back, I’m reminded of something significant. During the Covid pandemic, national polls indicated that the average church experienced a 30% reduction in worship attendance and nearly a 50% drop in financial support. However, that has not been the case at CCC. Not only did our church community weather those challenging years, but we also launched new and thriving ministries!

Our Care and Prayer Team underwent a revisioning process that has made them healthier than ever. We now have a team praying weekly for Centennial’s needs and over 100 people receiving prayer requests through our prayer chain email list. Additionally, a brand-new ministry, the Rent Assistance Team, focused on helping people stay in their homes, was born at the tail end of the pandemic. This team continues to provide critical, life-changing support to families connected with our local ministry partners: Love INC, North Littleton Promise, and Masters Apprentice.

But here’s the main point: Financial support for CCC has not wavered. While we’ve had to make a few appeals to ensure everyone is aware of the needs, these have always resulted in strong financial backing for our mission and consistent faithfulness.

I can’t help but notice that the people of CCC recognize God’s work in and through this community of faith, and for that, I am profoundly grateful. Here’s a snapshot of our current financial picture: As I mentioned last month, we are still running a bit of a deficit in giving, but we’ve kept expenses low enough that we are, overall, running a surplus. We are taking in more than we are spending.

That said, I would love for this to be a year where the giving fully meets our budget. Would you prayerfully consider how you will continue to consistently support the ministries of CCC through your regular, proportional giving to our general fund?

Thank you!

Grace and peace,

Karl Helvig

Lead Pastor, Centennial Covenant Church