It appears that God is working with us at Memorial Drive....and we are simply elated. Along with that...we are grateful.
As a church family we make efforts here and there to initiate various community works. Some seem to do all right. Others, though, seem to be as garden seeds planted in the wrong time of the moon....lots of flowery leaves with hardly any fruit. I believe Jesus even noticed a tree of such description.
The good news is that some of our labors have taken root in the soil God would multiply.
It is quite a rewarding joy to see our efforts with both the homeless and the food pantry making a difference for others. With the former, food and water is taken to them. The latter has a long line of community members coming to us. This surely blesses those serving directly and then the by-product of touching the remainder of the congregation indirectly is a massive kingdom perk.
Another strategic move is a host of our members mentoring and extending leadership at the nearby public Lindberg Elementary School. Where this began with a hint of sponsorship, we now have multiple ministries going throughout the year; plus one of ours is now one of the teachers and another is an aid.
An exciting element is that our family gatherings on Sundays and Wednesdays find many of these new community friends sitting beside us. They bless us! We wanted them. We need them. We are them and they are us. Ah, at last we are us.
These dear folks perpetually open our hearts to the basic love nature of Jesus. All of this fits; it seems rather natural. He cared gobs for the underdog strugglers. To us it seems we are never more like him than when we are serving; even in zones we don't know how to operate. He just continues to do His work.
We sense his heart among us. Friendships are developing. Baptisms are happening. Awe is arising.
One of my favorite concepts about what His grace is doing for this church is that all of these ministries are not a we and them; but a clear we are us.
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