Grace Communion Cleveland is still finding ways to be the church during this time of shelter in place and Covid-19.
Being compliant with restrictions and for the safety of our congregation, our ministry team decided to make monthly monetary donations to local community food banks. We continue dropping off a meal and needed supplies once each month to a domestic violence shelter that houses about 30 women and children. We alternate between purchasing meals and cooking the main dishes.
For the month of July, our local school district received a farm to family grant. Cars line up each Thursday to pick up a box or two for their family. We are using this time to help our families in the community and in our church who could use this gift of fresh produce. They are allowing us to take as many boxes as we need.
To God be the Glory! God never stops working and we are trying our best to pay attention to the movement of his Holy Spirit.
I recently asked for prayers concerning the community event being held at the GCI congregation in Atlanta where Charles Young serves as Lead Pastor. Pastor Young shared the following summary report for the free community COVID-19 testing held on their church’s property. They served around 300 neighbors! Now that’s making a difference in the one-square-mile around the church.
Thank you Pastor Young for your leadership!
Anthony Mullins
The COVID-19 testing on our church campus went very well. We thank our great God for blessing Living Hope Fellowship with an amazing opportunity to serve our community! I don’t have the final count yet, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 people came to our site to be tested for COVID-19.
I heard many “thank yous” for allowing our church to be used for this event. The weather forecast called for an 80% chance of rain. Three times during the event it looked as if the heavens would open up and we would get drenched. Praise God, it never rained. Councilman Reeves reached out to me to ask if the church could be used for this event. This event may lead to another exciting opportunity for Living Hope to serve our community.
Revelation 3:19-22 The Passion Translation:19 All those I dearly love I unmask and train. So repent and be eager to pursue what is right. 20 Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me. 21 And to the one who conquers. I will give the privilege of sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 The one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to the churches.
My imagination is captured by an artistic rendition of this scripture showing Jesus calling in the dark. He stands holding a light waiting to be let inside. Maybe because it’s our choice, since the doorknob is on our side. To feast with Jesus was an invitation to an international family meal. To become family meant there were cultural and social barriers to overcome.
This worldwide pandemic has forced us behind closed doors. It has exposed the dark underbelly of our institutions marred by injustice. Can we ignore the knock on our collective hearts? How do we hear Jesus’ invitation to his table today? If we could hear his prayer we might hear “Father, may they be one as we are one, so the world may believe.”
Since the heart that is open listens carefully, I invite you to listen like this:
Find a quiet place without distractions.
Pray: “Lord give me ears to hear.”
Take a few deep breaths. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself feasting at Jesus’ table. What are you thinking? and feeling? Discuss it with him.
Stay still and listen. If distracting thoughts come, let them go and repeat, “Lord, give me ears to hear.” Listen for any scriptures or images that might bring comfort or for an invitation to become the change the world needs.
As you go about your day, listen for Jesus’ knock on your heart and the grace to respond.
The church has existed since its inception on the Day of Pentecost in the first half of the 1st century. It has remained and we have assurance from its founder that it will remain until his return. Isn’t it encouraging and comforting to know that we never have concerns about the health and intent of the Head of the church? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And when we experience him, he truly saves you and me and we discover that he is better than we could ever imagine or expect.
When we examine the condition of the church in our time and in our setting, what markers do we consider? I hope that we can filter through the Faith, Hope, and Love avenues. This is our GCI mindset and how we see Jesus expressing himself through his body – the church. For the sake of this letter I want us to move back a step and consider: At the ground level the church is made up of individual Christians. By definition, a Healthy Church is made up of healthy church members.
Let’s recall the admonition by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to pass the test!
Paul wasn’t necessarily calling them out and questioning their conversion. He was challenging them to a higher awareness that Jesus was indeed alive in them. The challenge involved the depth of coming to terms with their weakness and powerlessness, then accepting Christ’s transforming power that comes in relationship and total reliance on him. Christianity is about our dying to self and then coming to new life in Jesus.
Dying to self and life in Jesus is radical and there is no middle ground. None of us like to die to who we think we are. We easily identify with externals – our family of origin, our achievements, our life experiences, our possessions, our titles, our jobs and our money; or lack thereof. Jesus knows that we struggle with letting go and surrendering to his will. This is why Jesus always lifts the heavy end of the sofa (so to speak). In fact, he does all of the lifting and simply allows us to play along (see the photo of my son Glenn to see a similar analogy).
Paul encouraged the first-century church in Philippi by writing,
12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:11-13).
Father, Son and Spirit must be active in our lives getting us to the starting place, “the will,” and then the means to walk the Christian walk, “the power.” It is a full and complete dependence on Father, Son and Spirit. In our process of letting go and surrendering, we all come to accept more deeply that we live and move and have our being in God. Our very existence is about coming to know, love and worship this personal triune God who invites us into relationship and participation. Can there be anything greater?
Beloved GCI brothers and sisters, please hear when I say that yours and my greatest pursuit has to be our relationship and identity in Jesus, and if we allow any other thing to come in front of this then it is an idol. It thrills me all the way down to my toes to think about a collective group of mature believers who are completely centered in Jesus and alive in him. I am also a realist knowing that surrender of self is an extended journey that will be traveled for as long as we live on this earth. It is a lifetime of discovering where we are still holding on, and then surrendering to Jesus all over again. What a privilege it is to be on this journey together.
Join us for Virtual GCIgnite—An event to connect young adults (18-30) in our denomination through a time of welcome and worship, and develop leadership through content and breakout sessions focused on spiritual formation and practice.
For more information and to register, click the images below for pdfs of the flyer and brochure. Be sure to share this with the young adults of your congregation!
Well, friends, Covid-19 has been rough. As people who are created to be in relationship, social-distancing has taken its toll on us all. As the shutdown happened, we were all thrown into figuring out a new way of doing church. When we realized that this would mean we could not move forward with our neighborhood camp, Camp Surrey, we were devasted. Then we realized that just like we figured out different ways of “doing church” through Facebook or Zoom, we needed to figure out different ways of “being the church” to our neighborhood as well. We saw the challenges in front of us, but we could not stand the thought of leaving all those neighborhood kiddos hanging. We had an incredible response from our neighborhood with our digital egg hunt, and we wanted to do the same thing for Camp Surrey. We knew the Holy Spirit was in control, but what we experienced this summer was far beyond our wildest expectations.
Our leadership team came together (we all live in the same neighborhood) and decided we would provide a new camp experience for our neighbors. We put our heads and hearts together and after lots of prayers, we came up with a “digital camp” that would allow us to serve all kinds of families in our neighborhood. We stuck with the theme we already had planned “Mission I’mpossible” and we got creative!
Each day, we had videos from different leaders from our church as well as “missions” (challenges) for our neighborhood to participate in. All five families from our leadership team set up “rendezvous points” in their front yards throughout our neighborhood loaded with bags with all the supplies campers would need for that day’s challenge. We continued to set up each day of the week with new supplies. We were able to see lots of familiar faces and meet many new neighbors who were eager to join in on the fun!
Camp Surrey currently caps our camp at 50 campers. This year, because of the digital layout, we were able to serve over 200 families in our neighborhood. My friends, this is the BEAUTY of neighborhood churches and camps! There is nothing more rewarding than serving kiddos and neighbors that you will continue to see and have relationships with throughout the year! We were able to sit in our front yards and see many of the campers from previous years, as well as connect with many new families that we didn’t know before!
We also decided that this year, this was something we wanted to do free of charge for our neighbors and community. People are tired, stressed, and lonely, and we wanted to do something to serve them with no strings attached. We started off the week with a “Random acts of kindness scavenger hunt” followed by “kite making,” “origami,” “making family flags,” and ended the week with a neighborhood Camp Surrey parade! The joy we saw on the faces of our friends and neighbors was incredible. The Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way.
Each evening throughout “camp,” our leadership team was able to come together in my backyard to debrief each day’s events. We shared meals, we shared our hearts, and it became an intimate gathering where we were able to go so much deeper in relationship with one another as a leadership team. It wasn’t the same as our traditional camp, but it was beautiful. We were still able to experience the late nights and early mornings that we all missed so much about camp!
The experience was a gift from God. It filled us with hope and was a wonderful reminder that he is sovereign. He can use all things for his good and we are blessed to be able to participate with him. We pray that God continues to open the eyes of our hearts to show us all the ways we can join him in ministry, even in the middle of a pandemic. He’s got this! Bring on the fun!
Ceeja Malmkar Love Venue Coordinator, GC Surrey Hills
Nsama Mwila (nee) Kaoma came in my life thirty-three years ago. Of these, 28 years have been spent together as husband and wife. We met in Grace Communion International (then WCG) in April 1987. Nsama served the Lord until she died on July 12, 2020.
God gifted, equipped and prepared Nsama for many roles she did in her life. Her warm and friendly smiles made it possible to attract people and make friends. Coupled with pioneering traits and administrative abilities Nsama contributed to my pastoral office as Office Administrator. Although she was not ordained as an elder, Nsama functioned as a minister in wonderful ways. The impact of these endowments resulted in visionary, servant, gracious and loving leadership.
Nsama’s giftedness and passion in ministry moved her to serve in several areas: as a Children’s Ministry Teacher, Youth Camp Ministry Coordinator, Camp Office Administrator, Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Church Board Member (GCI-Zambia), Pastors’ Wives Coordinator, Maid Servants Coordinator, Couples Fellowship Facilitator, Marriage Counselor, Region Office Administrator (Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), GCI-Zambia Office Administrator, Africa Missions Office Administrator, Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM) Facilitator and Teacher, and Africa Superintendent Office Administrator. She ably filled the role of a great assistant.
In the communities where she lived, she served as a founding member of Mothers with Infants Support Talks (MIST), Village Banking Secretary, Silverest Community Development Team Secretary, Young Women Empowerment Group, and Women’s Financial, Self-Development, and Empowerment Teams. Nsama passionately believed in making a difference in people’s lives and that she could work within her identified circles of influence. She invested in people’s lives through education by paying school fees and generous donations to needy and vulnerable people.
To empower people with skills, Nsama established a school to teach various life skills to help graduates to stand on their own. She would say, “No one can take away your skill. You are the only person who can waste your skill.”
All in all, Nsama lived a fun-filled, responsible and engaging life to the glory of God. A few days before she passed on, she and I talked to our children about death. Nsama spoke to each child and blessed them. As a family, we prayed together and I anointed her before we slept.
My family and I look forward to seeing Nsama in the Kingdom of God.
Over the last two months, my wife and I have been keeping in contact with our members in Latin America to provide support to various countries there. The stay-at-home orders in many Latin American countries are affecting the population harshly. As you can imagine, folks generally struggle for the everyday necessities, and amid Covid-19, the struggles have multiplied. My home congregation in Sun Valley, CA, along with our Santa Fe Springs congregation, has been supporting and encouraging members in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru, including providing basic necessities for hundreds of families.
We have partnered with our local congregations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Piura, Peru. They have engaged the Love Avenue with tangible acts of love and have joined Jesus in bringing hope to many. Our Piura congregation that is pastored by Ruth Nieves has fully embraced the Love Avenue and is engaging their community missionally. She understands the opportunity that has been presented to her church and they are stepping out in faith.
The letter below is a report that she sent me from their engagement in their community.
Heber Ticas Superintendent of Latin America & National Coordinator for Church Multiplication
Greetings and thanks from our GCI Piura congregation, Peru.
I am writing to inform you that we have finished the mission that was entrusted to us and that it has been a beautiful privilege to serve the Lord Jesus. We are very grateful to be able to participate with him in his work, bringing hope to many families who are in great need.
We give glory to our God who through you and the encouragement and support from our sister churches in Southern California allowed us to provide 30 food baskets to various families in our community. We have been able to see closely what God is doing. He has made our congregation walk down the love avenue listening to the different testimonies of people who were surprised because they did not have anything to eat and suddenly help appeared.
The Lord Jesus showed us the sad conditions that many people are living through in this pandemic. He also allowed us to prepare 25 dinners for people who spend the whole day outside the hospital near our community and who sleep on the street waiting for results of their relatives who are battling Covid-19.
I would like to share with you all the details of this precious journey, which has been for the glory and honor of our God, but I know there is no time, and I end by telling you that all this is just the beginning of great things. Through your support, more hearts locally have been moved to want to support and join in the work of God. We have wept with those who weep, and we will not remain with our arms crossed, as we have witnessed so much need and thirst for God.
Everything is in the hands of God and we thank him because he answered our prayers. Initially, we did not know how to help with the poverty and need that has been intensified by the pandemic. We are now able to supply this need for a roof and protection against the cold. We even have members who, due to the pandemic, have taken refuge in our tents and become chefs to those in need in the community.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are death. Proverbs 27:6
I was 21 years old when my father died suddenly and no one in my family knew how to cope with that…especially at first. We were all hurting and finding our way through the initial stages of grief. For me, it was rage, pure rage. My world felt so foggy that every line seemed blurred.
The day after we buried my father I got in an argument with my sister and shouted, “If you don’t get out of my way, I’m gonna punch you in the face!” I love my sister and would never hurt her, but rage just came out of my heart through my mouth. My best friend Mike was standing there with us and he stepped between us and said to me, “If you punch her, I’m gonna punch you!” He would have done it, too, and Mike was a big dude. I was so emotionally immature and so damaged in my grief that I took offense that he seemed to turn on me.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that he was loving me like Jesus. Proverbs 27:6 tells us “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are death.” Faithful loving friends will hurt our feelings, if necessary, to help us see and correct destructive behavior. A true friend is willing to say the hard things, in love, to help us be our best selves in Christ. Today let’s stop and thank the Father, Son, and Spirit for the true friends in our lives who correct us in love.
By Bill Winn Pastor, Grace Communion Hanover, Virginia
Back in April I was on a group email provisionally planning for a future event. My good friend Pastor Dishon Mills was on the same message. He ended his communication with the statement “This pandemic is making me more deeply appreciate being Spirit-led.”
I have heard others use the phrase Spirit-led, and I think I know what they mean. In this instance, I felt bold, so I wrote back to Dishon and asked, “What does the phrase Spirit-led mean to you”? He was kind enough to take the time to respond.
Hey Greg. I hope you are doing well. Sure, I can share what I believe I understand about “Spirit-led” so far, as I pray for God to continue to bring me clarity. One of our small groups has been studying the book of Acts, and one of the threads we have been following is the ways in which the emerging church discerned the will of God in a dangerous, confusing time. From Acts 15, we gleaned some thoughts about Spirit-led discernment:
Discernment does not happen in isolation, but through Christ-centered conversations amongst a diverse group (diverse with regard to perspectives, backgrounds, gender, etc.) within the church.
When we discuss an issue, we need to give priority to God’s present activity—what God is saying and doing in the church and in the intersection of the church and its community.
Then, we need to look to Scripture for confirmation of what we hear from God and to temper our approach (this may require a shift in perspective).
We establish doctrine, rules, and/or protocols based on what we discern. –
(Point added by Greg) Then make the understanding known throughout the church. Acts 15:30 says they were sent out carrying the letter (news) with them.
So, for me, Spirit-led is a communal or relational term because it is through the life of the church that revelation comes. I believe this is true of Christians both individually and collectively. Yes, God does speak to us directly. He brings affirmation, conviction, and guidance to those willing to listen. While this may appear to be Spirit-led in an individual sense, this too is communal and relational. I believe the Bible teaches us that we should not concretize anything we believe we have heard from God until we have the opportunity to run it by trusted Jesus-loving counselors. The Holy Spirit always leads us into relationship. Practically every time I am “spontaneously” sent to minister to someone (i.e. call a member to check-in), I find that my efforts were an answer to prayer. His leading is confirmed in my conversations with brothers and sisters about what I heard God say. Or my bias is exposed in the conversation when I mistake my voice for God’s.
Nicely stated, Dishon. I feel strongly about the Spirit working with us within the community of the church. We are no longer Moses going to the mountain alone —we are the church participating with Jesus and joining in community and relationship. This means lots of discussion and sharing, lots of processing and discerning, and lots of prayers leading to the decision that “It seems good to the Holy Spirit and us.”
May we be the Christ-centered, Spirit-led church that brings glory to the Father!
Grace Communion Cleveland is still finding ways to be the church during this time of shelter in place and Covid-19.
For the month of July, our local school district received a farm to family grant. Cars line up each Thursday to pick up a box or two for their family. We are using this time to help our families in the community and in our church who could use this gift of fresh produce. They are allowing us to take as many boxes as we need.
