We strive to bring the transforming presence of Jesus Christ to every person we encounter. In order for this to happen, we must first submit our own individual lives to the inner working of the Holy Spirit, for God always works from the inside out. As we submit to His cleansing presence, we are better able to offer God’s love, joy and peace to those around us.
This is not always an easy journey! We must first allow God access to the deepest, darkest recesses of our heart… those places that we ourselves don’t like, and would rather no one else could see. But if we are going to be transformed we, like King David, must pray “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)
As we enter into this kind of honest prayer, the Holy Spirit is faithful to gently and lovingly enter in and begin the cleansing process. There may be recesses of bitterness and anger that have lain hidden in our lives robbing us of peace and joy. Perhaps there is an old wound, a hurtful look, unkind word, or even an assault on our character that has festered into a putrid pit of unforgiveness. All of these areas must come out of the dark so that we can look at them in the light of God’s love. As we learn to let go of these sources of pain we can begin to offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us, even as Christ has done for us (Perhaps the one that it will be hardest to forgive is oneself). In time it might even be possible for reconciliation to happen between those who have long been hostile toward one another.
As we do this deep cleansing of our own souls, we also walk in community with others who are also undergoing the transforming work of God. We need each other, sometimes to shine the light on a dark area in our life (we all have spots in our lives that we are blind to), and sometimes to share a word of encouragement and strength that helps us continue the journey. All of us are works in progress toward becoming the people that God intended us to be. None of us have arrived and none of us will arrive completely in this life. So we journey together, hand in hand (figuratively) to the place that God is leading us. As long as there is one broken, hurting soul in our midst we are all broken to that extent and it takes all of us working together with God to bring healing.
Finally, we as a community recognize our call to bring God’s grace, love, joy and peace into our world in physical as well as spiritual ways. To that end we offer food and clothing to our community on the first Monday and third Saturday of each month. Our Clothing Barns are also open every Wednesday to assist those in need. We collaborate with other community churches and organizations in our neighborhood and beyond seeking to find solutions for the many problems that exist in our community. To see a list of some of these organizations and find links to the services they offer please visit here.
