the journey continues
well....christmas has come and gone. hard to believe that we are now on the brink of another new year and for our family a new child. christmas was great out this way. a's family all came out to be with us as we celebrated our first xmas services at advent. the services were wonderful and we had a pretty good turnout for both of them. our average worship after four services is right around 80 so we are happy. the coolest thing is that each week we are seeing new people who have an interest in being a committed part of the journey. i think now that the business of our first worship, and christmas services are behind, the work really begins. with over 20 kids and at least that many adults who have never stepped foot in a church there is an amazing need for education to begin. i pray for guidance as i begin to play with ideas of how to incorporate an education program into this infant-church.
i was lifted up on saturday by a phone call from c.k. and again sunday with a call from l.a. both of these reminded me of the great community that i am so blessed to belong to- colleagues spread across this country, but yet close in the journey's of our hearts- to spread the word of god in the best way we know how. this community we have, be it online or whatever continues to strengthen me in so many ways. thanks to all who have been part of it-you truly do not know how much it helps me. thanks also for the many who have included advent in your personal and church prayers. there is no question in my mind that what is going on here is the result of these prayers being answered. in a way- all of you are responsible for the ministry of advent- like it or not.
peace to all as you come back to earth after the hustle of christmas. time to gear up now for a long epiphany eh?
peace,
jg
i was lifted up on saturday by a phone call from c.k. and again sunday with a call from l.a. both of these reminded me of the great community that i am so blessed to belong to- colleagues spread across this country, but yet close in the journey's of our hearts- to spread the word of god in the best way we know how. this community we have, be it online or whatever continues to strengthen me in so many ways. thanks to all who have been part of it-you truly do not know how much it helps me. thanks also for the many who have included advent in your personal and church prayers. there is no question in my mind that what is going on here is the result of these prayers being answered. in a way- all of you are responsible for the ministry of advent- like it or not.
peace to all as you come back to earth after the hustle of christmas. time to gear up now for a long epiphany eh?
peace,
jg
Hey sweetie,
I'm really glad to hear that things are moving along steadily for Advent. It's so exciting to be part of the adventure, even from miles away.
It's really exciting to hear that soon Anna Jr will be joining the Advent and Grimm families. I can't wait to be an aunt again! :)
Prayers and love to you all!
Posted by
~moe~ |
1:01 PM
jg, I have a quandry to report that bears upon this discussion directly.
I got a letter from the division for global mission stating that Konkol had given my name as a possible sponsor for his work in Guyana.
I don't separate global mission and local mission.
I also want to support you, even to the point of covenanting to support you in your development.
How to decide such a thing? Aren't the people of Lake Ann deserving of hearing the word? Do we favor people outside of our comfort zone because we are so uncomfortable speaking the promise aloud to our neighbors and isn't you mission that much harder because of that?
Isn't global mission also (unfortunately) tied up in images of the patron/client relationship?
I also want to honor what Briak is doing but in many ways I think that America is our most important mission field.
{sigh} happy that you are doing well and that all of our prayers are bringing the people of all creation to the house of God's mercy.
we're so proud of you!
Posted by
Tim |
3:46 PM
tim makes an excellent point here, the struggle of who and where we do mission. as i am sure tim feels, this is so not about personal feelings of people here, i love brian k and what he is doing inspires me, just as i am inspired by what jg is doing just across that little lake those folks in michigan had the adacity to name after themselves.
having said that, one of the presenters at convo made a great point, that a big reason mission overseas is so popular is that it is cheap and far away. it requires very little of us financially to do it (as compared to mission here in america) and even less personally as we put the mission onto some "missionary" to do.
he challenged us to think about what it is going to take to do mission here in the states. how much will it cost in our time and ultimately are we actually willing to pay the financial bills?
this really reminds me of the situation of mission i saw myself being a part of on internship. i got to know the folks at apostles church in seattle and saw the great work they were doing, it excited me a lot.
however, to get them the building they needed for their mission (after 2 years of building community) which involved a coffee shop and art space for the community (if you lived in fremont you would get why this was important), it cost them $400,000.
$400,000 that went to another ELCA congregation!!! a congregation worshipping only about 40 more people a week than apostles.
now i was on both sides of this debate, knew and loved people on both sides. yet I encouraged the congregational council of the church in question to take as little money as they thought they could for it, and this was their decision. i understood the decision, but i certainly disagreed with it.
the question is out there, and it isn't gonna go away. are we willing to invest the type of money it takes to do mission in america?
and if we don't, are we going to be subject to more freako's like Pat Robertson, who can raise the money and spend it getting their message out there, for the rest of our lives.
Posted by
erik g |
7:14 PM