Pastor Kim has been our Pastor since March 2007. She has served several Disciples churches as Youth Minister, Associate Minister, Singles Minister and Senior Minister. She has also served as a Chaplain in both medical and psychiatric hospitals, and holds degrees from Phillips Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School. Kim and her husband Mark, have 2 sons, Matthew and Dylan.
Here is just a bit of Pastor Kim's excitement and vision for First Christian Church, "First Christian was birthed over 100 years ago as a tent - a place of welcome and protection for Lawton's first settlers. We still see ourselves, symbolically, serving as a tent of invitation, covering and advocacy."
It has been said that a "successful" church has: committed members - growing spiritually - reaching out to others. Drawing on the teaching of Ephesians 4:12, that a pastor's role is to "equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,"I am devoted to encouraging the "success" of all those who share with us in faith and fellowship.
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Kim’s E “quips”
… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ… ~ Eph. 4:12
I LOVE being a part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) because we are more concerned with building bridges that connect than with building walls that separate. As a follow up to my past two sermons dealing with our new Disciples Identity Statement and 12 Principles, they are copied below for you to have them in one piece. Please review them again and if you have any questions and want to ask me, I’ll do my best to answer them or find someone who can. As I stressed in both my sermons, we ALL need to be able to share with those who ask, “So what DO Disciples of Christ Churches believe?”
“A church’s identity must be firmly rooted in scripture and yet flexible enough to adapt to changes in culture and the shifting demands of mission. Early Christians in Jerusalem had to learn what it meant to be faithful in Antioch and Rome. The forebears of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), as they moved from the frontier to the city, had to rethink such matters as congregational autonomy and the goal of “restoring” the New Testament church. Today, we wrestle with what it means to be disciples of our Lord in a world that is increasingly pluralistic, globally connected, and yet so often violently divided.
And so, we offer a succinct statement of identity, under-girded by twelve distinct principles of what it means to be Disciples of Christ.”
Statement of Identity
We are Disciples of Christ, a movement of wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Tabls God has welcomed us.
Principles of Identity
We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and proclaim Him Lord and Savior of the world, requiring nothing more—and nothing less—as a basis of our life together.
We hold to the centrality of scripture, recognizing that each person has the freedom—and the responsibility—to study God’s Word within the community of the church.
We practice the baptism of believers, which emphasizes that God’s grace demands a response of faith and discipleship, while also recognizing the baptism performed in other churches.
We gather for the Lord’s Supper as often as possible, experiencing at this table the gracious, forgiving presence of Jesus Christ.
We structure our community around the Biblical idea of covenant, emphasizing not obedience to human authority, but accounability to one another because of our shared obedience to Christ.
We participate in God’s mission for the world, working with partners to heal the brokenness of creation and bring justice and peace to the whole human family.
We hear a special calling to make visible the unity of all Christians, proclaiming that in our diversity we belong to one another because we commonly belong to Christ.
We witness to the Gospel of God’s saving love for the world in Jesus Christ, while continuing to struggle with how God’s love may be known to others in different ways.
We affirm the priesthood of all believers, rejoicing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit—which include the gift of leadership—that God has given for the common good.
We celebrate the diversity of our common life, affirming our different histories, styles of worship, and forms of service.
We give thanks that each congregation, where Christ is present through faith, is truly the church, affirming as well that God’s church and God’s mission stretch from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.
We anticipate God’s coming reign, seeking to serve the God— Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer—whose loving dominion has no end.