A Place

Do you know what would be amazing?  A place where the believers in this neighborhood—English and non-English speakers alike—could come together and grow as the Body of Christ.  Where refugees and Americans could receive Biblical teaching and fellowship in their own languages, but could also be unified and edify one another across languages.  Where people with practical needs could go and know that they would be shown God's love, even before they know that's what they're experiencing.

So, do you know what would be amazing?  A church here.

Don't misunderstand me—the Church is already in this neighborhood.  There are believers here from multiple continents and languages, who are loving and growing and ministering.

There's a house church of more than fifty Jarai speakers that meets down the street from me, crammed into a tiny apartment.  The host/pastor of these people approached us recently, asking if we knew a bigger place they could meet.  We haven't found one.

There are people here who have only a few other believers who speak the same language.  They want to join American Bible studies, but the language is too high and fast for them, or the churches are too far away.  Most people here rely on walking as their only consistent transportation.

Now, this is the American South.  There are already many churches—church buildings—in this neighborhood.  Granted, I haven't visited every single one, but there doesn't seem to be one that has actively embraced this community as brothers and sisters.   There doesn't seem to be much interest in helping meet practical needs.  Honestly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of love in these churches in general.

So often, we find ourselves thinking "X could happen and it would be awesome, if only we had a place to do it."

I know that God is big.  Far bigger than I let him be, most of the time.  I don't know whether his answer to this will be to give us a brand new place, or to transform the hearts in one the churches already here, or whether we need to keep waiting, or something else we haven't thought or imagined.  I do know, however, that there a couple properties for sale in this neighborhood. To us, they seem ideal, space- and location-wise.  We're excited to be looking into them, and seeing them as possibilities; but we also know that what seems perfect to us, with our limited vision, is not always what God knows to be perfect.

So, please pray with us, for wisdom and faith and patience and boldness as we listen to what God wants to do here.  Pray about these properties, that it would be clear whether to pursue them.  Pray that we would hold our ideas and hopes with open hands, and remember that God loves this community more than we ever could, and that he wants his glory to spread here even more than we do.

...It would be so helpful to have a place.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory 
in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, 
forever and ever.  Amen.  -  Ephesians 3:20-21