Good Morning Prayer Partners of City Life Church,
I just felt impressed to drop you a note this morning. We have about 4 weeks until City Life's 5th Birthday Party, and things are wild and crazy around here... I'm so excited and believe it's going to be a truly wonderful day of celebration. I find myself pretty nostalgic as I think back and read over the prayer letters I've been sending you since 2004! Wow!
Let me again say—we would be so honored to have you join us for our birthday celebration on Sunday, September 26 from 3-5:00 p.m. Holland Central Wesleyan's choir will be leading in worship, Mayor Heartwell will be sharing a few comments, and you'll hear the testimonies of several City Lifers. You have been a very significant part of City Life's history, and we are incredibly grateful! Please don’t hesitate to contact me at christy@citylifeonline.net or 616.260.1477 if you have questions about this event.
I wanted to share a prayer point with you. I am continually amazed at how one of the greatest poverties I see here in our community is the poverty of relationship. Economic poverty is most certainly an issue. But I think one of the most painful and depressing types of poverty is really the poverty of relationship.
We had a group over to our home this past week in an effort to get to know people better. We do this fairly regularly, and it's always a neat time to connect very different people with each other. It was a mixed group of some City Lifers who've been around for a while and some newer people who were just starting to connect. As people shared and as the conversation progressed through the evening, I was just amazed at the number of people who dropped a comment here or there about simply being very lonely.
Loneliness is something that I think we all feel at times. Hearing the recovering addict say she feels lonely, the young educated couple say they feel lonely, hearing the new student say she feels lonely... It just seems that with all this loneliness going on, we should be able to help each other out that way, doesn't it? I know I have often felt lonely in ministry. I think loneliness is something that most of us face at times.
As we continued our dessert night together, discussion deepened into laughter and shared interests. Three of the people were in the medical field. Four were students. Some were married, Some were single. Three of the women loved to shop at thrift stores, and let me tell you—they were clearly experts at it! (One woman bought her wedding dress there for $17!) It was really amazing to see people have things in common with people who seemingly were SO different from one another.
All of this led me to think about City Life and our ministry here. I'm constantly hoping for more formalized types of "ministries" and "events" for people to connect with. And I think there's a big place for those. But I was reminded that the GREATEST NEED, and the greatest poverty here, is for healthy, strong, meaningful, Christ-oriented, joy-filled, FUN relationships.
That has been City Life's priority from the beginning, and I'm so grateful that we have let other "programs" be second place to our priority of relationship.
Relationship, you see, is NOT glamorous. People who come to City Life to serve are really looking for a short-term mission type experience in which they can "do" things to "help." What we have offered mostly, though, is the opportunity to connect long-term, on an equal level, on a give-and-take level, in relationships. This means that people who come to "give" really need to learn how to "receive." Because real relationship is a two-way street.
Recently Adam met with a director at Goodwill Industries who has done quite a bit with ministry programming for felons released from prison. Adam was asked, "Do you have any felons at your church?" Adam laughed, because we have a LOT of felons. "Yes," Adam answered, "quite a few." The director then asked, "What kind of programs do you have for them?"
"Well," Adam replied, "We don't really have specific programs. We just expect them to be part of the church. We ask them to get into a Life Group, and we ask them to help us serve our community." The director was astonished, and he said, "Wow—that is exactly what is needed!"
The power of relationships. There is often little "glory" in relationships. Joy in relationships comes after a lot of hard work. Crossing cultures, ethnicities, economic divides and educational divides can make for awkward relationships at first. But I think this is what it means to "love one another" as Christ has loved us.
We are called to this incarnational ministry of "dwelling with," of "living with," of 'doing life together." It's not about being do-gooders—it's about the ministry to sharing life with... AND of having the "least of these" GIVE BACK to us and allow them to meet OUR relational needs.
Thanks for letting me share this with you. I just felt impressed to do so. I pray it encourages you, and also that it informs your ability to pray for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your faithful prayers for us!!!
Christy
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