Church Blessings
Last weekend, after we returned home from the lake, my youngest son asked if he could come to church with me and bring a friend. The friend is an international student from China that my son has been paired with to help him become more comfortable with English. Apparently he'd heard from other international students that many of them have been taken to church by the students they're paired with. He's never been to church and so asked my son if he could come with him. Why my son picked my church instead of his own or his dad's is beyond me (well, his own church was having a picnic so that might be why) but that was cool. And the friend brought a friend.
We don't meet in a church building but in a legion hall. The bar is to the right of where we sit and the bingo board is up above the worship band. And that Sunday we had a guest worship band that played LOUDLY! But they seemed to enjoy themselves and even got pressed into helping put the place back in order when church was done (ready for the legion's bingo game in the evening). In addition, the associate pastor invited them to start Bible studies and, according to him, they agreed--on the grounds of an opportunity to learn more English. So cool!
The associate pastor has kept in touch with my son's friend and so this past Saturday, at a special booth our church had up for a community street party, the friend who'd only been at our church once and never to another church before then, was helping out, handing out pamphlets and telling anyone who'd listen all about our church. I didn't know this and was so surprised to see him pulling up to church on again on Sunday morning.
I arrived in church just in time to hear the announcement about a building we're hoping to buy. We have no money for a building. We don't even pay our pastors. Our congregation is very tiny but we made the offer to purchase anyway, with no money down. They've accepted the offer! The amazing thing about this is the location. Our church has a particular neighbourhood we want to reach out to--the local equivalent of Haight and Ashbury. There is one block that is considered the main strip of this community, a busy thoroughfare lined with unique (and sometimes strange) stores and restaurants of various kinds. Of course the community is much bigger than this one block and our building scouts were looking in the entire area. But this building is right smack dab in the middle of the main strip.
A variance is needed to turn the building into a church and a variance requires community support. Would the building's neighbours who welcome drag queens also welcome us? Yesterday at the neighbourhood party, two of the business leaders of the community came up to our pastor at our little booth and told him how glad they are that we're buying the building. They're not happy with what's been going on there and welcome our presence. Wow! Is that God or what? Furthermore, a church 1000 miles away from us has donated $10,000 towards the building. I can't imagine having a store-front presence in the heart of this neighbourhood. Just absolutely amazing!
God, thank you for the blessings you've been pouring down on my church. We aren't deserving and yet you give anyway! Enable us to be wise with what you've given us. Enable us to be light to our neighbourhood and to all those who walk through our doors. May we show love to all--those who appeal to us and those who don't. Give us wisdom and courage and strength. Give us grace to be like You.
We don't meet in a church building but in a legion hall. The bar is to the right of where we sit and the bingo board is up above the worship band. And that Sunday we had a guest worship band that played LOUDLY! But they seemed to enjoy themselves and even got pressed into helping put the place back in order when church was done (ready for the legion's bingo game in the evening). In addition, the associate pastor invited them to start Bible studies and, according to him, they agreed--on the grounds of an opportunity to learn more English. So cool!
The associate pastor has kept in touch with my son's friend and so this past Saturday, at a special booth our church had up for a community street party, the friend who'd only been at our church once and never to another church before then, was helping out, handing out pamphlets and telling anyone who'd listen all about our church. I didn't know this and was so surprised to see him pulling up to church on again on Sunday morning.
I arrived in church just in time to hear the announcement about a building we're hoping to buy. We have no money for a building. We don't even pay our pastors. Our congregation is very tiny but we made the offer to purchase anyway, with no money down. They've accepted the offer! The amazing thing about this is the location. Our church has a particular neighbourhood we want to reach out to--the local equivalent of Haight and Ashbury. There is one block that is considered the main strip of this community, a busy thoroughfare lined with unique (and sometimes strange) stores and restaurants of various kinds. Of course the community is much bigger than this one block and our building scouts were looking in the entire area. But this building is right smack dab in the middle of the main strip.
A variance is needed to turn the building into a church and a variance requires community support. Would the building's neighbours who welcome drag queens also welcome us? Yesterday at the neighbourhood party, two of the business leaders of the community came up to our pastor at our little booth and told him how glad they are that we're buying the building. They're not happy with what's been going on there and welcome our presence. Wow! Is that God or what? Furthermore, a church 1000 miles away from us has donated $10,000 towards the building. I can't imagine having a store-front presence in the heart of this neighbourhood. Just absolutely amazing!
God, thank you for the blessings you've been pouring down on my church. We aren't deserving and yet you give anyway! Enable us to be wise with what you've given us. Enable us to be light to our neighbourhood and to all those who walk through our doors. May we show love to all--those who appeal to us and those who don't. Give us wisdom and courage and strength. Give us grace to be like You.
posted by Magdaleine at 5:06 PM
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