Be the Church…Radical Update
We are two weeks into this amazing journey we’re taking together as a church and I hope you are as excited about it as I am. Please continue to pray about your part in Next 2012 (our one-year giving campaign to be radically generous) and the Be the Church Sunday (an amazing opportunity for us to worship radically by serving our community). This past week we heard an amazing story of radical community, how God used a Home Group to provide support and encouragement to one of Aiken’s finest and his family during the recent tragic events in our community. This is just one of the many examples of what it means to be the church.
I recently heard about a mom and wife in one of our Home Groups, who found support and encouragement when she decided to go back to school. After years of being out of school, she decided that she needed to get her degree. Because she had been out for so long, she was very rusty, especially in Math and English. But God knew her needs. Home Group (including an English teacher and an engineer who was a math wiz) came alongside her to provide tutoring, proofing of her papers and a lot of moral support. And, on December 17th the group caravanned to Spartanburg to cheer like crazy when she walked across the stage to receive her degree.
Another Home Group I heard about provided financial support for a person who was not even in their group. A group member shared a prayer request for her brother who was struggling to keep his house after a difficult divorce. He was behind with his mortgage payments and in danger of foreclosure. While he was able to negotiate a deal with the bank, he was still about $6,000 short. His sister and her family were able to provide some of what he needed, but there was still a gap of several thousand dollars. After sharing this need as a prayer request to the group and asking them to pray that God would provide for her brother’s need, she was shocked the next day when a member of the group called to say that God was leading him to give the remaining amount.
These are just a few examples of radical community that happen every week in our church. Thank you for “being the church” and for living in radical community with each other.
God Bless,
Phillip
