God has blessed us!

This letter is my last monthly letter as a GCI employee as I retire this month. As I reflect on my tenure as president of our faith community, many blessings that God has bestowed upon us come to mind. One of these blessings has to do with our name - Grace Communion International. I think it beautifully describes our fundamental shift as a community. By the grace of God, we have become an international grace-based communion, participating in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I have never doubted that our Triune God has led us to great blessings in and through this wonderful change. My dear members, friends and collaborators of GCI/WKG, thank you for your loyalty on this journey. Your lives are living proof of our change.

Another blessing I can think of is the one many of our longtime members can report about. For many years we have often prayed in our services for God to reveal more of His truth to us. God has answered this prayer - in a dramatic way! He opened our hearts and minds to understand the great depth of his love for all mankind. He showed us that he is always with us and that by his grace our eternal future is secure.

Many had told me that they had not heard sermons on the subject of grace in our churches for years. I thank God that from 1995 we started to overcome this deficit. Unfortunately, some members reacted negatively to our new emphasis on God's grace, asking, "What's all this Jesus stuff about?" Our response then (as now) is this: "We preach the good news of him who made us, who came for us, who died for us and rose again, and who saved us!"

According to the Bible, Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, is now in heaven as our High Priest, awaiting his return in glory. As promised, he is preparing a place for us. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and will take you to myself that where I am, you also may be. And where I am going, you know the way.” (Joh 14,1-4)This place is the gift of eternal life with God, a gift made possible by everything Jesus has done and will do. Through the Holy Spirit, the nature of this gift was revealed to Paul: “But we speak of the wisdom of God, which is hidden in mystery, which God predestined for our glory before all time, and which none of the rulers of this age understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But we speak as it is written.” (Jesaja 64,3)“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him.” But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit, because the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1. Kor 2,7-10)I thank God that he has revealed to us the mystery of our salvation in Jesus – a salvation assured through the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return of our Lord. All this happens by grace – the grace of God, given to us in and through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.

Although my employment with the GCI will end shortly, I remain connected to our community. I will continue to serve on the GCI boards of the US and UK and on the board of the Grace Communion Seminar (GCS), and I will preach in my house church. Pastor Bermie Dizon asked me if I could give a sermon every month. I joked with him that all of these tasks didn't sound like retirement. As we know, our service is not an ordinary job - it is a calling, a way of life. As long as God gives me strength, I will not stop serving others in the name of our Lord.

As I look back over the past few decades, in addition to wonderful memories from GCI, I also have many blessings related to my family. Tammy and I are blessed to have seen our two children grow, graduate from college, find good jobs, and be happily married. Our celebration of these milestones is so overwhelming because we didn't expect to reach them. As many of you know, our fellowship used to teach that there would be no time for such things - Jesus would return soon and we would be taken to a "place of safety" in the Middle East before his second coming. Fortunately, God had other plans, although there is one place of safety prepared for all of us - it is His everlasting kingdom.

When I began serving as president of our denomination in 1995, I focused on pointing out to people that Jesus Christ has precedence in everything: “He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Kol 1,18)Even though I am now retiring after more than 23 years as GCI President, my focus remains on this and will continue to do so. By the grace of God, I will not cease pointing people to Jesus! He lives, and because He lives, we also live.

Carried by love,

Joseph Tkach
Chairman
GRACE COMMUNION INTERNATIONAL