this post is to be a summary of the last year and a half and the birth of the ministry that we call ours and we call ekklesia. written for friends and family and as an introduction to acquaintances about a ministry that we hope will grow and morph into something pretty worthwhile....
in may of 2009, on a long car trip, scott and i were praying and asking the Lord what is to be next for us/life plans and dreams/purpose and hope for usefulness on this planet for eternal good. during this time of quiet, the idea of starting a new church/planting a church... made its way into conversation and prayer-questioning. it became more than a passing idea with time (very little time) and after one or two phone calls and enormous jaw-dropping perfect timing...we found ourselves at a church-planting conference (less than a month following initial prayer about all this). we were wowed by the wisdom communicated and information we were able to take away from the week spent putting church ideas on paper/sticky notes/and...on our hearts.
so...five months later...after life-transitioning events and happenings propelled us forward, we planned our first meetings together to introduce the new church idea to friends and to plan services to celebrate the birth of Christ. we met at ledford middle school for several weeks and enjoyed our times together immensely. we then decided to save the expense of facility rental and meet in our home. we have been meeting here ever since and have loved our packed living room and the weekly visitation of our "faith family."
our church is very specific in its focus. we are focused on mission. we have planned events with community-focus and hope for unity as we have asked other faith families to worship together with us on occasion. we have an event like this planned for may of this year. we have planned a children's home tour for the summer of 2011 to share thoughts of hope in Christ and heart-healing with children and youth across the southeast.
our meeting time is mid-week in the evening. we hope to have a quiet, coffee-shop atmosphere on sunday mornings at some point when we have a location suitable for this...for rest and for friends to do Bible studies together/pray together...or to just have a place to come and be quiet and journal.
as i write this, our closest planned event is in 10 days. we have planned a winter retreat. (see previous blog). we are extremely excited about the 3 days planned and are ready ourselves for some time away and time to celebrate the hope of Christ together. in the midst of this cold winter season, hoping for refreshing ourselves. :)
most exciting news right now i've saved for concluding remarks:
though we've called ourselves a worshiping body thus-far, we have basically been a group of friends starting a church together. we have not yet technically "launched" our ekklesia. :) (btw...that is the greek word for "church." :) ) so...with that said, we have a launch date!
it is...drumroll, please...soon. hee hee...to be announced at our winter retreat and following with future blog posts. :) we will have a new location and a bit more room (happy motivation to ask more friends and friends of friends to come!). lots more details forthcoming... until then, thank you for reading this long summary and for being interested in the happenings of our happy beginning. we are elated to be doing/planning what we feel we are on this planet to do. hopeful for fruit...to lay at Jesus' feet.
Yay!!! We have always been excited to hear what God is doing in your life. We pray His hand on you be even more evident as you launch forward and that His enormous blessings be upon you! And we'd like to hear more details when we try to get together next month. Love always!
ReplyDelete