Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2020 Healthy Church Photo Contest, and congratulations to our winners! We are grateful for and encouraged by your images of our growth. Together with Christ, we are embodying Healthy Church.
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:16
“The church is a hospital—a place where sick, broken, wounded, flawed people are made new by Jesus.” ― John Mark Comer
Join us in prayer as we come together this new year asking for renewal and thanking Christ for new mercies each day. Click the image below to download and print the January Prayer Guide, as we celebrate how God is working in and among our congregations.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2
Have you ever been at the end of flight, airport in sight, and then instead of descending to land, the plane begins to fly in circles? The repetition of a flight path is called a “holding pattern”. When we are not present and intentional in our daily lives, we can fall into holding patterns of our own. Small and seemingly insignificant habits can seem harmless, but over time our habits form our life. For example, trading out 30 minutes of TV time each day for a walk can drastically improve our health. This same principle applies to our spiritual life.
It is easy for the values and lifestyle of the world around us to shape us; shifting the focus of our identity from a beloved child who belongs to God, to comparing ourselves to the people around us and where we fall in the hierarchy of society. The transformation starts not with our behavior but by presenting ourselves before our merciful Father. As we experience being held by our gracious God, holding patterns are broken and we are transformed. He renews our minds and reveals the way forward. Take some time in worship today, presenting yourself before the Lord in worship. May he renew your mind and show you his perfect will for the patterns in your life.
Prayer:
Gracious God, thank you for loving me into who you made me to be.
Reveal the patterns in my life that are shaping me to reflect the world instead of you.
Transform me by renewing my mind by your Spirit. In my mind and life, may you be glorified.
By Michelle Fleming
GCI President, Dr. Greg Williams, gives an update on the life of Grace Communion International. Greg talks about the significance of the Faith Avenue as we move forward into 2021.
Please be in prayer for Honduras. The report below is from Heber Ticas
Superintendent of Latin America, on Thursday, November 5.
I have been in contact with our church family and Honduras all morning and the country is getting hit hard with fast-moving torrential rains from hurricane Eta. Below is a report from Pastor Marco Mejia of San Pedro Sula. Their congregation is in an area named La Democracia and is known for flooding.
“Unfortunately, last night the Ulua river overflowed and flooded the colony of La Democracia where we meet, and our church building is located. Eight families from our church who are members were evacuated and now find themselves in temporary shelters. There are 12 additional families that are affected. Many of these are not consistent in our church but their children and teenagers are well connected to our ministry. The situation is dire, and the storm is still with us. Homes have been destroyed, and roads and bridges have also been affected. I have attached some videos of when the river overflowed so you can get a better idea. By the grace of God, I don’t know of anyone close to us that have lost their lives. We continue to pray asking the Lord for relief and we ask that you join us in prayer as well”.
– Marco Mejia
Please join us in holding up our brothers and sisters in prayer.
Update: As of Saturday, the water had not yet receded and folks were still in shelters. A damage assessment was not yet possible.
Heber Ticas
Superintendent of Latin America &
National Coordinator for Church Multiplication
Grace Communion Cleveland (GCCle) partnered with Cleveland City Mission to help collect coats for men, women, and children, with a focus on those housed at Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center. Members asked family and friends to check their closets for winter coats that were no longer being worn but still in good condition. Twenty-eight coats were collected for homeless and transitioning women, men, and children. We are reminded that even one can make a difference.
We were also blessed to volunteer as a church and help pass out “Farm to Families” food boxes each Thursday in October. These boxes included chicken, dairy and produce. In the summer months, we participated by collecting boxes to give to those in need mostly within a mile radius of our former church home. This time, Grace Communion Cleveland was able to take part in the process of distribution on-site with the Cleveland Heights School System who sponsored the giveaway. We are grateful to be finding ways to reach out during this time.
Loving Service,
Pat Shiels
Love Avenue Champion
October 6 through 8, twelve Home Office employees gathered in Oklahoma City, OK, to plan for the coming year. Due to Covid-19, our meetings took on a different look–we even had GCI branded masks.
We were each seated at individual tables to create proper spacing. At first look, everything seemed so spread out and separated, but after we started working, the extra space didn’t hinder the warm communication or collaboration, and most commented that they liked having the extra space to spread out their documents.
While in Oklahoma City, we traveled to Surrey Hills, the site of the new church building that is being built. We were greeted on-site by Surrey Hill’s pastor, Joe Brannen. Joe gave us a tour of where the sanctuary would be located, classrooms, and meeting space. Although no steel or concrete construction had started, the ground had been leveled and chalk marks, colored string, and wooden stakes were seen throughout the space where concrete was to be poured later in the week. This church facility will also serve as a Ministerial Training Center for interns and pastoral residents when complete.
Our meetings were collaborative, focusing on the Faith Avenue theme for 2021. Working within this theme, we discussed how national and regional resources and events could be focused to support congregations and members in exploring this avenue. The Faith Avenue is one of the three key ministries (the others being Hope and Love) that are important in a healthy church as we share the gospel. Tools, including social media, church hacks, prayer calendar, Equipper, monthly church reporting, and more, will all be used to emphasize and inform participants about the Faith Avenue in 2021.
This planning time together was beneficial and joyful because it is the only time during the year that this group gathers in one place to share ideas face to face. We brainstormed and planned, and also enjoyed recreational time together to relax and deepen our relationships.
The next time we will all be in one place will be the Denomination Celebration in 2021. We hope to see many of you there!
Pam Morgan
Operations Coordinator
In a couple of months, by the grace of God, I will officially begin my tenure as the National Coordinator for Generations Ministry (GenMin). My friend Jeff Broadnax and others blazed a trail that I am grateful to follow. It is humbling to be placed in a position to assist in the spiritual care for the young people of our denomination in the US. Fortunately, God has proven himself to be a God who can do big things with small things. I would like to share a bit of my story with you, so you understand my confidence in God.
I was 5 years old when I last saw my father, and I emotionally struggled with never knowing the man that made me. My mother was always enough, but there were times when the dad-sized hole in me ached. At those times she would say, “Don’t ever think that you don’t have a father. You have a heavenly Father who loves you.” It took me a very long time for me to believe her. I was born into the Worldwide Church of God, and I struggled under legalism and people who did not treat me with kindness. One adult charged with caring for the youth in a neighboring congregation told me that I likely would not amount to much. Encounters like this made God seem unloving and cruel. On top of that, I grew up in a community where many did not value little brown boys. My family was one of few black families in my town, and I suffered under persistent racism. In high school, my guidance counselor refused to help me apply to colleges because he did not believe I was college material. With a backstory like this, you would expect me to become a statistic, but we serve a God who can do big things with small things.
Miraculously, God did not allow the hatred and dehumanization of others to derail his plan for me. By God’s grace, he decided that I would go to Harvard University, where I studied sociology and African American studies. While in school, he introduced me to my wife Afrika, and our union produced Serena and Cairo, our wonderful children. At Harvard, God also gave me my first career through my work-study job. I became the first African American to serve on the adult staff of the South Boston Boys and Girls Club. It was there that I realized how much I loved working with children. For the next twenty years, every job I had was working either with or for young people. For ten years I worked for the Boston Public Schools, where I headed the office that coordinated afterschool programs and student services. At one point, my office supported 8,000 children and youth across the city of Boston. The kid that “would not amount to much” helped thousands of children learn, grow, and realize there were no limits on what they could accomplish. Our God can do big things with small things.
During this time, God was drawing me to himself and towards my calling in Christ. While in college I decided to stop following God. I believed he existed, but I was angry at him and doubted his love for me. That went on for over a year until, like the prodigal son, I remembered my Father and longed to be with him again. Because God is full of grace, he began to reveal himself in different ways and in different places. My wife and I attended a progressive Baptist church, a megachurch, a traditional Baptist church, and a Pentecostal church. At each church except the megachurch, I was invited to lead in ministry — youth minister, associate pastor, and youth pastor, respectively. It was through these experiences that I came to learn that God is a good God, and in him, there is no shadow or darkness. I came to fall in love with the church and wanted to participate in the work Jesus was doing. God took the kid that hated church and was not taught about Christ to share the gospel with scores of youth and adults. Our God can do big things with small things.
God brought my story full circle and returned me to Grace Communion International. God used the denomination that placed burdens on me as a child to spiritually liberate me and finally give me a theology that felt right. After serving as a church planter in Randolph, MA, the Lord led me to shepherd Grace Christian Church, the same church I occasionally attended in college. God blessed me with a truly beautiful church family. When Greg Williams approached me about the GenMin role, my mind flashed back through the journey I just shared with you, seeing God’s hand in every moment. Of course, I prayed and sought wise counsel from those led by the Spirit, but through the circumstances of my life, God showed me the extent to which he had been equipping and preparing me for this moment before I even knew to call on him. My God can do big things with small things. I pray that God will use me, in partnership with parents, pastors, and congregations, to bring the same message to the young people of our denomination.
Dishon Mills
