“How do I serve in my community?” Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. ~ Colossians 4:5-6 This question was posed by someone recently upon receiving a Flat Jesus. They were contemplating how in their day to day life they were bringing Jesus into their community. How did they share the Gospel with co-workers, neighbors, family? How did they embody the love of God in their words and actions? Carrying a small plastic Flat Jesus in one’s pocket or purse is a tangible reminder that we carry Jesus with us wherever we go. When we go to the coffee shop, we bring Jesus with us. When we are outside exercising, we bring Jesus with us. As we are running errands, we bring Jesus with us. In each of these moments we have opportunities to serve our community. The words we say reflect the love of God to another. The actions we take display God reaching out to others. This same question is before each of us. How do we go out into our community to serve? Showing up to serve is found in the small moments. It is seen in listening to one another and learning about other’s life experiences. It is asking one another, “How can I help?” and serving those real needs. In these moments, we metaphorically take Jesus from our pockets or purses and share Him. So, as you go about your day today ask yourself, “How am I serving in my community?” Watch for the moments you can share Jesus with someone else. Let us go into the 168 hours of the week serving in our community in word and action. May Flat Jesus help to remind us that wherever we go, we bring Jesus with us. We are disciples of Jesus sent out into the world to serve with love and share the Gospel. This is how the Church grows. ~Pastor Vicki Epper
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Love One Another: Live Like That“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” ~1 John 4:7-12 Saying and doing are two different things. We can say we love someone but if our actions do not reflect that love we contradict ourselves. For example, God could have said He loved the world and left it at that. Instead God sent Jesus Christ, His Son to be a sacrifice for the whole world. It is in God’s action and Jesus’ life, death & resurrection that we see God’s love for the world. It is in our daily actions that we communicate what or who we truly love. How we spend our time and what we put on the calendar, demonstrates what we value. We show love to others when we show up for them. The time a friend calls needing an ear. Do we listen? The neighbor who needs assistance with yard work. Do we show up with a rake asking, “How can I help?” The person we encounter on the street facing systemic racism. Do we speak up for him/her? The Apostle John wrote in his first letter that the world will know God by how we love one another. Within the faith community this is seen in how we treat and accept each other. It is also seen in how we love non-believers. Do we judge a non-believer? Or do we build a friendship with them, listen to learn from them, hear about their life experiences and serve them humbly? Let us live like that. Let us love freely embodying God’s love for the whole world. Let us love when no one else will show up. Let us give it all we have. Let us live so that as people pass, they see the evidence that we’ve been changed by the Gospel. This life of love is a daily walk. Each morning we get up and choose to love unconditionally, without judgment. When we live like that, we point the world around us back to God alone and the world will come to know God. “Live Like That” by Sidewalk Prophets: ~Pastor Vicki Epper
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Welcome to our new staff blog
As we begin to navigate a more distanced society and find new ways to connect virtually, it is our hope as a staff that one way we can bless our community is through a Discover Church blog filled with encouragement and ways to reflect on His goodness and faithfulness as we all walk this path into the unknown. Categories
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