COMMUNITY “In April of 1999, Jeremy went to the beach with some friends from church, just hanging out. As usually happens with most people, he mentioned something that was worrying him—he couldn't make his rent that month. After communion the next evening, the church had an open microphone for anyone who wanted to talk. Most of the people who spoke talked about what God was doing in their lives, but not Heather. Jeremy couldn't believe what she did—especially since he'd just met her the day before at the beach. ‘Jeremy can't make his rent this month,’ Heather said, ‘and I think we all should give him whatever we can spare to help out.’ Jeremy broke down and began weeping—not out of embarrassment, but out of gratitude. ‘I've never had anybody do anything like that for me before,’ Jeremy said. After the service, friends and strangers came by and pressed money into his hand. Not only was he able to make that month's rent, they gave him enough to pay the next month's and a DMV bill that was due. That night, he experienced community. Community isn't a group of people hanging out, and it isn't a program—it is a process of members of the body of Christ rubbing souls with one another, entering into each other's pain and celebrating one another's victories.” —Future Church: Ministry in a Post-Seeker Age, p. 229-230 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson For more information on Future Church, go to: http://www.www.thefuturechurch.com/order.html COMMUNITY
In Future Church, Jim Wilson writes about “Janice”
a member of Agape Community Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. He describes
her as a person with “a lifetime of tragedy etched on her 50-year-old complexion.
She's had four husbands and five children. Today, she only knows where
one of the children is and doesn't care to know where any of her husbands
are—she was a battered wife. The beatings took their toll; to this day
Janice suffers lingering disabilities from the abuse that were compounded
by an auto accident a few years later. She's a squirrely sort of person
that has a hard time finding any social equilibrium. Because of her health,
Janice can't hold down a job, but she isn't lazy—quite the opposite. She
is very resourceful, supporting herself by collecting junk, cleaning it
up and selling it at garage sales. One crisis after another follows in
her wake, she always seems to be a few steps away from calamity and in
constant need of grace—an extra portion of grace.
Janice's car was in worse shape than she was—it was always breaking down. Men in the church tried to fix it and stop it from overheating; they even took it to a mechanic when they couldn't fix it, but to no avail. It was shot. Jim and his wife Jolene took Janice's need seriously and begin looking through the Penny Saver to see if they could find a car that the church might be able to buy for Janice. But before they did, a member of the church handed Sandell the keys to his old car and said, ‘Pastor, we bought a new car this week and thought we'd give our old one to the church just in case you or someone else might need it.’ Jim immediately thought of Janice. Now, with the gift, she had reliable transportation, but her problems weren't over. Janice is missing that something that most people have in their makeup that lets them know when they are acting inappropriately. If she's down at 3:00 in the morning, and she needs to talk, she doesn't think twice about picking up the phone and dialing a phone number. At times, Jim Sandell, the pastor reaches his wits end with people like Janice, and when he does, he prays: ‘Lord, I know You've brought these people here for us to minister to. I pray for the strength to do what I can do to make a difference. And give me the extra grace I need to extend extra grace to them.’ Part of extending extra grace to people like Janice is to not view them as a ‘ministry project’ but to see them as someone Christ has drawn to their church—a part of the family.” —Future Church, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Matthew 25:45 NIV “He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'” For more information on Future Church, go to www.thefuturechurch.com/order.html COMMUNITY
In his book, Being The Body, Charles Colson writes,
“Just as we cannot do justice to September 11, we could not begin to detail
all the ways that churches across our nation lived their faith in its wake.
In the darkest hour, so many of the people of God stood as His church,
doing what the church does best: being the community that brings hope and
comfort to brokenness and pain.”
—The Body, p. 4 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Romans 12:15 NASB “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” For more information on Being The Body, go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0849917522/freshministry COMMUNITY
The True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York
has found a new way to impact their community. The church on the city’s
east side is about to become the first church in Buffalo, and perhaps the
nation to operate a Subway franchise. Pastor Darius Pridgen will attend
a two-week training program in August for new franchise owners, and then
return to teach his congregation the basics of sandwich-making and restaurant
finances.
The franchise will open in November on the church grounds. Pridgen says True Bethels’ store will be no different from the 16 other franchises in the area, but its aim will he higher than turning a profit. The church plans to bring healthier eating alternatives and economic development to the east side of Buffalo. The franchise will provide job training for younger members of the congregation and surrounding neighborhoods. Graduates of the church’s employment skills classes will work for several months at the Subway. The church will then help them find permanent jobs outside the church Pridgen says the restaurant will also move the church toward financial stability. He says, “Usually (Subways) are located in suburbs and the north side of town. We thought it would be a good idea to bring it to the inner city.” Kevin Kane, public relations manger for Subway says he did not know for sure if True Bethel was the only church operating a franchise but added, “Its certainly a rarity.” —www.buffalonews.com, Angel Food? True Bethel to open its own Subway, by Brian Baskin, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. James 2:14-16. NLT “Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use if saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone. Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food and clothing and you say, “Well good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing, What good does that do?” COMMUNITY
The cover story for the August 22-28, 2001 USA TODAY
BASEBALL WEEKLY featured the Oakland A's, who are on an amazing winning
streak. With a 28-9, post All-Star game record, they are the hottest team
in baseball.
Throughout the article, the players credited the comradery of the team as a key component to their success. Pitcher Barry Zito said, "We get along great. It's not an image we try to put out there; it's just the way we are. We hang out together." Zito continued. "Basically, you can pick five names out of a hat, and those guys would go out and eat and have a good time. "Some people might not appreciate how special this clubhouse is and how much that means to wins and losses on the field, but it really is a beautiful thing." —2001 USA TODAY BASEBALL WEEKLY, August 22-28, p. 9 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Personally, I think the low ERA of the pitching staff might have more to do with the "W's" they are posting than whether the guys like to gang out together. But the comment does show one important thing: people long for community. Whether it is at a bar "where everybody knows your name," a clubhouse where players get along, or a church where life is shared with others, community is important. 1 Peter 1:22 NIV "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." COMMUNITY In his book, "With One Voice", Reggie Kidd writes, "Each of us finds ourselves in a community that has come from somewhere and that does things certain ways for certain reasons. We sing a particular song this way instead of that way. Our liturgy is shaped this way and not that. As each group develops its nuances, it becomes a family and develops its own folk culture. That's necessary, and it's good. But we say something profound about the gospel itself when we stay a family and refuse to allow ourselves to become insular, a closed-in group." —"With One Voice", p. 156. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson John 15:12 (NASB77) "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." COMMUNITY/TRIALS A piece of paper is stronger than most people think. If you take a sheet of paper and crumple it into as small a ball as you can, even if you are Mr. Universe, the ball is still 75 percent air. University of Chicago physicist Sidney Nagel wondered how air could hold up something as thin as a sheet of paper. Nagel and his colleagues investigated their question by crumpling Mylar sheets and placing them under a heavy piston. They found that though most of the compression took place in the first few seconds, the piston kept crushing the sheets by small amounts up to three weeks later. The physicists discovered that squeezing a tightly crushed wad down to half its volume would take 64 times as much force as a normal person can exert. Nagel says, “Even a weight lifter isn’t 64 times stronger than the average person.” According to Nagel, paper balls resist compression because crumples in the paper consist of many small peaks joined by a network of ridges. To crush the ball further, each ridge has to buckle in two. Compressing the ball creates more ridges, which requires even more energy to break. —Discover Magazine, The Incredible Power of Crumpled Paper, pg. 13, August 2002, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell In community, we are better able to withstand trials. God’s power is displayed as we form a network of ridges and small peaks that keep the community of believers from being crushed. 2 Cor. 4:7-10 NIV “But
we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness
of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in
every way, but not crushed: perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about
in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifest
in our body.”
COMMUNITY In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell writes, “Successful people don't do it alone. Where they come from matters. They're products of particular places and environments.” -- Outliers: The Story of Success, 119 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson For more information on Outliers go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316017922/freshministry Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (HCSB) “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if somebody overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”
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