For three days in August, Grace Communion Zimbabwe hosted our annual Family Festival and Conference. The celebrations utilized a blended approach. The first day was a virtual meeting on the WhatsApp platform. Days 2 and 3 were held in person in two locations: Bulawayo in the southern region and Harare in the northern region. These are Zimbabwe’s major regions.

Nearly 200 people gathered in both locations. Half the participants were children and youths. We were pleased to provide the young people with vibrant activities that focused on living and sharing the gospel through play.

We adopted the 2022 GCI theme for our celebration: Compelled by Love. We were guided by 2 Corinthians 5:14: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (NIV). The festival program was composed of varied segments of preaching and workshops. One major highlight of the celebrations was the baptism of five people at the Bulawayo location.

By Marshall Dube

The Jacksonville, FL congregation hosted its annual Neighborhood Fun Day on Saturday, October 15. After holding our Outside the Walls event in 2016, we began this tradition to provide consistent engagement with our neighborhood. We were unable to hold the event during the pandemic, so we’re very pleased with this opportunity to do so again.

As always, there were a few minor challenges to overcome, like a leak in one of the bounce houses. We had so many guests that we ran out of food during the last hour, even though we had gone back to the store twice already! Overall, it went very well with very nice weather.

We used a new method to invite the community: Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), a service of the US Postal Service. EDDM allows you to mail flyers in bulk to your focus neighborhood without having to address each piece. [Watch this short video about EDDM.] We mailed 3,158 invitations and spent more than $600, but it was worth it. Engagement requires a dedicated budget!

Our neighbors responded with enthusiasm and appreciation, with about 250 guests joining us. Many expressed gratitude that our church provided this for their families. Several attendees even returned for worship services the next Sunday. Our prayer is that the love and fellowship we enjoyed together will be a seed sown that will take root, and the guests will continue on the discipleship pathway!

By Marty Davey, Pastor

Every September 15 through October 15, National Spanish Heritage month is recognized and celebrated in the U.S. The month pays tribute to the contributions of the American Latino community. Since several Central American countries celebrate Independence Day on September 15 and Mexico on September 16, the celebration takes on greater meaning in these communities throughout the U.S.

Our Sun Valley and Hawthorne, California, congregations joined in the celebration by honoring the immigrant fiber of the makeup of these churches. In our Sun Valley congregation, the countries of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru are all represented by church members. In Comunion De Gracia Hawthorne, all but one of these countries are also represented.

On September 18, both the Sun Valley and Hawthorne congregation independently dedicated their Sunday celebration to celebrating Spanish Heritage. As part of the service, prayers were lifted on behalf of these nations, and our union in Christ was celebrated as the united expression of the body of Christ.

The celebration affords the congregations a space in which church members can come together to celebrate their heritage. They do this by dressing up in traditional attire, highlighting ethnic roots, and enjoying traditional cuisine. It becomes a celebration of God’s amazing creativity and his immeasurable grace in Christ.

Additionally, Spanish Heritage Sunday also grants the opportunity to invite family, friends, and neighbors to experience the unified body of Christ in a tangible manner. It has become one of the key events for outside the walls presence in our church neighborhoods.

Since the first time that we dedicated a Sunday (on some occasions a weekend) to Spanish heritage, God has blessed us with many opportunities to meet those we receive as guests and our surrounding neighbors. Many of these relationships have become disciple-making relationships. We are grateful for God’s providence and the many opportunities that he affords to participate in his everyday mission in our community and city.

By Heber Ticas
Pastor & Superintendent Latin America

What a blessing we have in Jesus. I see God’s hand in our neighborhood engagement efforts. GC Pasadena doesn’t have a big budget, so we must look for other means to engage the community and share the love of Jesus with our neighbors. We began distributing donated food from the grocery store, Vons. But when that ended, we prayed for God to open another door.

Now, we’re grateful to be giving away produce from Trader Joe’s every Saturday morning. The manager of our church building even allowed us to use the hall without charging additional rent. It’s a chance to meet our neighbors, ask their names, and pray with them if they desire. Often, they ask, why are you doing this? It’s an opportunity to talk about our church. Most express surprise and gratitude.

We want to be a consistent presence. We want our neighbors to realize that we are truly intentional about loving and helping them. For this reason, it’s important that this is an ongoing event.

We’re beginning to see how the food donation is a connecting point to the larger community. My husband, Saddie, is friends with the tennis players in Eagle Rock, where Trader Joe’s is located. Two of those friends volunteered to bring the produce from the store to our church in Pasadena. On top of that, they are now attending our church service. Then they invited all the other players to the 9^th anniversary celebration of our church — half of those in attendance were tennis players! Additionally, one tennis player, Ben, who is a retired nurse, volunteered to check blood pressure and blood sugar on Sundays for our members.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. God is really the one opening the door. We just follow Jesus, and bear witness in what he is doing in the lives of our neighbors.

By Angie Tabin, Pastor