Why I love our church

I just got off the phone with a writer from the Christian Standard. She was calling as part of a broader interview with Christian Church leaders on worship planning. I got to share our experiences as part of the New Thing Network, as well as our transtion to planning our services locally.

But the best part of the interview was bragging about our team’s outreach ministry to the Emerald Glen apartment complex. 85% of the residents there have a household income of less than $10K a year, and one census showed just 13 married couples out of 240 units.

Life Journey has been active at Emerald Glen for several years now — participating in food distributions, running a Vacation Bible School, and hosting several outdoor parties.

But in August of 2005 that ministry grew exponentially  when a family from Life Journey intentionally moved into that apartment complex as incarnational missionaries. It took a while to figure out the most effective way to reach people, but last Easter we started a small group for children, which soon became two groups, and has since extended into a third group aimed at junior high students.

We’re also in process to start an after-school program in the complex — offering academic mentoring and life-skills mentoring in addition to our current focus on spiritual growth.

Every time I share this story I get excited! I love what God is doing through our people to serve “the least of these,” and, in so doing, to serve Jesus.

The Why I love our church by Church Planting Journey, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.