Ministry Matters

The most prominent strategic goal for Mission and Ministry at Cornerstone in 2022 is the invitation by our School Board to develop a ‘contemporary’ spirituality for our College. Whilst this sounds forward-moving and appropriate for our spiritual context, it will be both exciting and challenging to articulate what this would look like on the ground. How might a ‘contemporary’ spirituality look different to the kinds of ministry that have been done before? How might understanding what Jesus did and said in 1st century Palestine be the lens through which we view Ministry in a learning institution like Cornerstone in 2022? As I have been thinking about this throughout this year, it has occurred to me that a good starting place is the concept of the term ‘cornerstone’ itself, one that serves as a key motif to the identity of Jesus in the New Testament. A cornerstone was always the first stone laid in the construction of a building. More than this, though, it was the stone that was the foundation for all 3 dimensions, that is, the vertical and the horizontal of the first 2 dimensions, but also that which guides the construction of the third dimension. In thinking about these various dimensions, I think of how all 3 begin from the ground first, and then serve to move upwards, forwards and sidewards, but always from the point of view of the cornerstone, that of itself, aligns all 3. Jesus meets us on the ground first. He comes to us, meets us where we are at, and then lovingly begins to formulate 3 dimensions for human living. I think we can start here.

Albert Gast

College Pastor

“Christ, himself, the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy place in whom you also are being invited into a dwelling with God.”

(Ephesians 2:21)

Prayer Points

• For the gift of Christ as cornerstone of human lives • That students may better appreciate the ways of God in their lives • For the blessing of the life of Queen Elizabeth II