Finding Our Community

Last year in January, God hit us between the eyes with a theme verse for our congregation: “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonans 5:11).  Both in our individual activities as agents of Old Union and in our church activities, we have been seeking ways to honor the spirit God has given us to share with each other and the community around us.  In the process, the Lord has renewed the spirit brought vitality to Old Union in many ways.

It would be easy to stop here.  “Encourage one another and build each other up” could become empty words that we recite mindlessly at the end of each worship service, and God’s intervention in the life of our church could slip into nothing more than a happy memory.  Your session has been seeking ways that we can develop our spirit of encouragement, both within the life of our church fellowship and also in our witness to the community around us.  I invite you to join them in asking the question: how can Old Union offer even more encouragement to our neighbors?  Here are three suggestions and two tips.

SUGGESTIONS:

1. Visit places in our community where you normally never venture.  For example, if you have a washer and dryer, visit the laundromat.  If you don’t have children in your family, spend a morning at the soccer fields.  If you don’t play golf, go to the clubhouse and see what you find.  Our community offers a tremendous variety of gathering spots.  Visit some, and you may be surprised.

2. Take a prayer walk or a prayer drive.  You don’t have to say a word to anyone other than the Lord, if you don’t want to.  Walk or drive slowly through our community’s neighborhoods, and pray for the people you encounter and the homes and businesses you pass.  Remember that prayer is not only us talking to God, but God speaking to us.  Listen for what he tells you about our neighbors.

3. Missioninsite.com is a community research firm designed for churches and other faith groups.  Through the Presbytery, we have free access. Check with me for the username and password.  Poke around and see what the numbers and research reveal about our own little neck of the words.

TIPS

1. Don’t rely on your own ingenuity as you seek ways for Old Union to encourage and build up our neighbors.  Open yourself to the creativity of the Holy Spirit to guide you.

2. Consider the gifts, resources, and character that our church and its members already have, and consider how they can be used to touch our community.  God has equipped us for where he is sending us.  How can we use what we have, and be who we are, in service to our community in God’s name?

Please pass along your ideas of encouragement and up-building to me or to a session member as we seek to be faithful to the One who loves us and calls us.