Subscribe to Every Post:Recently someone shared publicly the impact their mission community was having in the lives of people in and released from jail. I have heard over the past week how impacting that story was for people. Let me share the highlights for those who may not have heard.
Over the last couple of years people at Grace Gathering have been encouraged to develop community groups (5-10 families) and focus on a specific mission of outreach. While these groups are reaching out, they will also in the process grow closer in their relationship with God and with one another.
One particular group began to gather together (made up mainly of people who have been at the church for a long time). At first, it seemed to have a Bible study focus (which is the way most of the participants had experienced small group gatherings). However, the leadership of the church strongly encouraged these small to mid-size communities to make Bible study/learning only one of many areas of focus, rather than the dominant focus. The goal was to have a more holistic pursuit of community-life with an intentional focus on outreach/the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20.).
At first, this was very uncomfortable for the group. They rather enjoyed one another’s company, enjoyed sitting around and discussing Bible studies, and preferred a safe and comfortable setting. God then brought a new couple to the group and the woman was an assistant chaplain in the Allen County Jail. They started hearing about needs in that arena and many of them began to realize that they had connections to the jail either by extended family, friends, or acquaintances.
Some of them started serving at the jail in a very simple way (e.g. sorting clothes). Some began to write letters to inmates. Some started shopping for gift bags for newly released inmates. They got out of their comfort zone and began to try some things.
A gentleman in the area recently got out of a four year stay in prison. He came to Jesus while he was in jail. He called a bunch of churches in the Fort Wayne area when he got out and for some reason was led to attend a service at Grace Gathering. That first Sunday he attended, he walked from Coliseum Boulevard to the building in New Haven.
He then heard that Grace is a church made up of a bunch of small to mid-size communities that meet all over the city. Someone then linked him to the house church that had recently began to focus on helping people in jail or recently released from jail. He began attending this community, started to meet and get to know people, and also had a passion to help people who had similar backgrounds to him.
He was staying at an Inn in Fort Wayne with no job, no car, and no money (a place many inmates stay when they are first released from jail). The people in the house church began to sense a connection to helping people at that Inn. Instead of simply asking people to come to them, they decided to go to them. They served a meal at the Inn and welcomed anyone who was interested. They got to know a few more people there and are now trying to provide them with clothing and some of the bare necessities.
The individual who started attending this mission community started helping with some maintenance issues at the Inn, on a volunteer basis, and eventually got hired by the Inn. Those within the community encouraged him to get baptized now that he had given his heart and life to Jesus, and the mentor of that community baptized him in a public service at Grace a week ago.
This all started with a group of people who decided to move beyond comfort and move into the arena of true mission (caring for people, serving them, and sharing the gospel of Jesus with them).
There are many other stories like this of communities gathering together for the purpose of loving God, loving each other, and going out and intentionally loving those in the world. Maybe you are a part of community of people who are pursing God’s mission on the earth.
I hope you are encouraged by this story. This mission community feels like they are simply in the beginning stages of some awesome things God wants to do through them and through other ordinary people just like them. I know this story has been an inspiration to me.
October 6th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Very encouraged, my friend!