“My role as a believer is to introduce people to the hope I have in Jesus.”
From Missio Dei Community in Salt Lake City, Abby shares how she lives out the gospel through Epic Experience, a program for cancer survivors.
This is one story among many from our churches of Jesus followers changing their communities with God’s love!
Meet Jordan Rice! He is leading a new church in Harlem, launching in 2014.
Take a few minutes to listen to his story. Then, will you pray for Jordan and the Harlem Project? Pray for God’s blessings and guidance, wisdom as he makes decisions, and for the people of Harlem.
“Who’s Adam & Eve?”
A young man at Everyday Christian Church in New York City asked this question to Matt and Kala Mueller, leaders of the youth group. Many kids attending Everyday have never heard stories from the Bible. “They don’t know who Peter is. They don’t know the story of David and Goliath,” Matt explained. They are hungry to hear more!
Valentin is a 14 year old who attends the Everyday youth group regularly. With no parental support or involvement, he walks a mile every week to the Mueller’s apartment for study. Matt shares, “They LOVE Paul! So many of them resonate with his story and find hope that your past does not have to define your future. “
Matt initially met Valentin through an afterschool soccer program. For several years, Matt volunteered to coach youth soccer teams. He immediately recognized the opportunity to be a light in a neighborhood where children are struggling to find role models. Many come from broken homes. Fathers don’t stick around. Parents are often immigrants and speak little to no English.
Matt’s volunteer work led to a position coaching a 7th grade competitive soccer team. Within this one team, children come from Egypt, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nigeria, and Senegal. Through sports, Matt gets to teach commitment, discipline, controlling your anger, and working as a team. Matt also has the challenge of bringing peace between people of different backgrounds and nationalities.
Matt and Kala first learned of Orchard Group through church planting classes offered by The Orchard Institute and Ozark Christian College. Matt fell in love with New York City immediately. Kala was initially hesitant, but now laughs that her plans in college were to go into overseas missions. Instead, God revealed how her desire to minister to Hispanic people could be accomplished without leaving the country.
Orchard Group is excited to see what the coming years hold for Matt and Kala Mueller and the Everyday youth! You can partner with us by:
We love seeing the smiles on the faces from this Night to Remember Party!
Discovery Christian Church in Cranberry, PA threw a party (complete with dresses, tuxes, hair & makeup, and limos) for special needs youth and their families. This church is taking seriously Jesus’ command to love others- and having some serious fun doing it!
Two pastors make the case that American Christians need to shed their “anti-urban bias” before their religion becomes marginalized.
Interesting read on church & city. It’s brief, and does not mention the Catholic Church, which has long ministered in abandoned urban areas.
Major cities exert a disproportionate influence on the culture at large, especially in the areas of finance, politics, art and education.
From our base in New York City we’ve been expanding to the metro areas of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. We are also planting our first new churches in the cities of Europe and Asia.
We’re following the model we find in the New Testament, when the gospel spread rapidly and influenced the culture through new churches in major cities.
On the heels of yesterday’s good news from Japan:
Half of the world’s people live within this circle (see link below)! This is one of the areas least reached by the gospel. Continue to pray for Mustard Seed Christian Churches in Nagoya & Osaka. Also pray for church planters and partners willing to work in this important region!
Praise God, who is building His church in Japan! Did you know that fewer than 1% of the people in Japan identify themselves as Christians? Mustard Seed Christian Church is sharing the gospel, week by week, and seeing lives change as a result.
Kiyoe first attended MSCC on Easter Sunday. For the last few weeks, she attended small group studies, where she heard the gospel from fellow Japanese women who are Christians. From those conversations, Kiyoe decided that she too, wanted to confess Jesus as her Savior and be baptized!
Please take a moment to pray for Andy & Jenny Rodriguez, who lead the church, as well as the new Christians who are now becoming leaders at MSCC. Please also pray for all the new believers, including Kiyoe, that their new faith would be strengthened!
The families at Village Church in Buffalo, NY are growing! Recently they celebrated Child Dedication Sunday. During this service, families made a commitment to raise their children in knowledge and love of God, and the church committed to share in the responsibility of raising and supporting them.
Lead pastor, Jeremy Hazelton expressed, “It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. We resonate with this sentiment so completely that we named our church Village Church (at least that is one of the reasons). At Village Church, dedicating a child is focused in equal parts on the parents and the community of the church. Parents can use a little help, and this public dedication of their kids says two things:
1. I want my child to grow up to love God and the church
2. I want the help of this church family to realize that reality.
It is likewise a chance for our church family, whatever their season of life to say ‘we are here for you.’
In a Village, all of the responsibilities are shared, as are the joys and sorrows. Child Dedication in our church is one of those special times when we acknowledge this fact, and we seize this opportunity to love and encourage one another.”
To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.
Karl Barth
