July 2020
BEYOND NEWS
I believe this year, God is teaching us to be ready for unexpected changes. In the spring, most of my scheduled work was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. It was disappointing because I am used to being busy and I enjoy it that way. Little did I know that God had plans to fill some of my free time. As a member of the Mercy Team I was presented with an opportunity to assist with providing care for people in the church and local community. I accepted the invitation to serve and it has been an unexpected blessing beyond belief. Primarily my responsibilities have been with the Beyond Local ministry and Care Team.
2020 Impact Trips // Ready to serve in 2021?
We are grateful to Grace members that applied for 2020 Impact Trips. The decision was made to cancel all trips. The safety of our partners and church members is a top priority. We have begun to plan and dream about 2021 Impact Trips. Would you join us in praying for God’s plan to be made clear and for God to prepare the hearts of our partners and church members that will take part in these experiences?
God gives all of us unique gifts, and these gifts can be used in amazing ways to further God’s Kingdom. Sherrill Kuc, an artist at Grace, recounts how God used her artistic gifts to serve our ESL students: “I had been sending daily devotionals since the Fall of 2019 to a few friends, which always included an illustration. And when I started the study for Psalm 23, my devotionals included a prayer about what I was learning from Him, and I would include a doodle or thumbnail or a snippet of an illustration I was preparing for Psalm 23.
Good Neighbor Initiative
Invitation to Incarnational Ministry
The COVID-19 pandemic has both illuminated and increased the needs of many families in our community. For our vulnerable neighbors, sickness, unemployment, or a mixture of both has left them with immense financial need, food insecurity being a particularly troubling burden. As the Church, we are called to mirror the Good Samaritan, who was mirroring Jesus, in his “neighborliness” to the man beaten and left on the side of the road. Instead of leaving the vulnerable behind, Christ compels us to meet them where they are and treat them as beloved friends.
Book Recommendation
Carl Medearis is an international expert in Arab-American and Muslim-Christian relations. He acts as a catalyst for movements in the Middle East to promote peace-making and cultural, political and religious dialog for reconciliation. He works with leaders in the West and in the Arab world with the hope of seeing them experience full and fruitful relationships through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Carl is the author of multiple resources designed to help Christians talk about Jesus and relate to their Muslin neighbors including: Muslims, Christians, and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships.
Muslims, Christians, and Jesus is based on the author’s 25 years of first-hand experience. This engaging book reveals what Islam really teaches and how today’s Muslims live and think. With practical information and personal stories, Carl shows readers how they can build life-changing bridges between the world’s two largest religions.
Here’s an update from our field worker from the Middle East II focus area. The location and the names are undisclosed for security purposes. Please pray for our workers in the Middle East to be protected from any harm and to be used by God to advance His kingdom.
My time serving with the church in the Middle East is so wonderful. The church serves refugee families in a large urban area with the population close to 1/2 million people. One of the distinguishing features of the area is the complete lack of churches. Among some 450,000 people, there is not a single church – save perhaps a few small house churches. The church is currently serving the refugee community through a program in which refugees are able to purchase fruit and vegetables on a monthly basis – something the community itself identified as a significant nutritional need. As the program continues, we have been going out in small teams to visit the many families being served by this program, to get to know them, and to see how we can best serve them in the future. As we sit on floor cushions in their homes and sip cups of tea, we listen to their stories and share stories from the Bible that speak to their pain, struggle, and uncertainty. We also pray for each family, lifting up their needs before the throne of God, and praying in the name of Jesus the Messiah.
As we sat in one home last week, A* M* shared how he is comfortable having friends from different backgrounds, including Christians, because God looks at each person’s heart and is not as concerned about when and how they pray. I agreed that God sees each person’s heart, but I also shared that I know my heart is not clean and that I cannot stand before a Holy God apart from Him cleansing me and changing me. Let’s continue to pray that the many seeds of the gospel that the team is sowing will bear fruit unto the salvation of many. Pray also that God will lead us to those who are ready to hear the gospel and receive Christ.
I believe this year, God is teaching us to be ready for unexpected changes. In the spring, most of my scheduled work was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. It was disappointing because I am used to being busy and I enjoy it that way. Little did I know that God had plans to fill some of my free time. As a member of the Mercy Team I was presented with an opportunity to assist with providing care for people in the church and local community. I accepted the invitation to serve and it has been an unexpected blessing beyond belief. Primarily my responsibilities have been with the Beyond Local ministry and Care Team. There are multiple ways to volunteer for distribution of care packages every few weeks. I have shopped, made cookies, packed boxes, written notes, and delivered boxes to assigned homes. In addition, I make phone calls to check in on people and inform them that they will be receiving a package. The outpouring of appreciation is remarkable. What would seem to someone looking in from the outside a small and menial task, it has proved to lift the burden for many who would not have otherwise been able to get the items necessary to feed their families.
I found as the weeks went by that people were ministering to me by their gracious and heartfelt responses. I was left a flower and a note of thanks on the porch of one house, sent messages expressing gratitude and appreciation, was prayed for and had many wonderful conversations during my calls. I hope to meet some of these great people at some time in the future. I was sent one especially moving message that I got permission to share.
“Hi Cindy,
Thank you sooo much for thinking of my family, we are extremely blessed. I was extremely grateful to have experienced such Grace and love; it brought me to tears.
No, we no longer need the food, but I could use your prayers to draw closer to God. I am experiencing fear because of all that I am seeing on TV/social media. Monday, my blood pressure was high for the first time because of stress.
Please let me know how I can volunteer, I cannot tell you the impact those boxes had on me and my faith. I was praying to God for a physical touch of his grace and love. It was the first time in my life since I attended church that I experienced such love in church.
Thank you thank you thank you.
Love You”
I shared this with some people during a Zoom prayer call and I was moved to tears. I did not realize the depth of the impact that we were making. I appreciate the honesty expressed during my conversations and often go back through my list from the last few months and lift people up in prayer. I made a call the other day and the woman that answered said she does not normally answer the phone but something prompted her to that day. We had a wonderful time talking, laughing, and praying. She was so thankful to have had such an uplifting, unexpected time. I felt the same way.
I am thankful to those who entrusted me to make phone calls and care for those in need. I look forward to the tasks given to me. There is an unbelievable group of people giving their time to address each need. The Lord knows the skills and desire he has given me to help people and He has led me to the perfect place to do that!
God gives all of us unique gifts, and these gifts can be used in amazing ways to further God’s Kingdom. Sherrill Kuc, an artist at Grace, recounts how God used her artistic gifts to serve our ESL students: “I had been sending daily devotionals since the Fall of 2019 to a few friends, which always included an illustration. And when I started the study for Psalm 23, my devotionals included a prayer about what I was learning from Him, and I would include a doodle or thumbnail or a snippet of an illustration I was preparing for Psalm 23. And as I was just beginning this Psalm 23 project, the ESL teachers were trying to figure out how to continue to serve our ESL classes [during COVID] and I thought one way I could continue to serve my beautiful students was to send them the Psalm 23 devotionals as well! There was one particular student that I especially hoped would be encouraged by what God was teaching me since she is a Muslim. (I admit, some of my prayers for the daily devotionals were for her heart!) I also learned that some of my students are mighty prayer warriors! These daily devotionals were a marvelous link for everyone! God is so AWESOME!
Heather Herrera, who had also been receiving the devotionals, suggested I create the end-of-year gift for the ESL students. She suggested I use the illustration from the series, which included the entire Psalm, but I wanted to create a new piece, and of course, God, being the Supreme Art Director, gave me the idea to illustrate the shepherd sitting with the one sheep he just saved from the edge of the cliff, telling the sheep, as he cups the sheep’s face in his hands, “My Shepherd restores my soul, too.”
Of course it’s a totally “God-thing” that I became an ESL teacher. I had been teaching in Grace Kids for nearly 20 years, either as a small group leader or large group teacher, and I LOVED it! But, that one day when I saw my friends Deb Nichols and Debbie McGuire standing at the ESL table after service one day, I literally felt propelled to their table and I signed up to become an ESL teacher that day. (Makes me cry just thinking about how much God wanted me to be an ESL teacher!) I have so many amazing stories about my classroom experiences with my ESL students, but I cannot even begin to tell you how much I treasured getting to know my students and loving on them and getting to teach the Bible verse of the day AND teach them English! It’s not so much about teaching them English, but sharing God’s love with them and the joy of getting to know each one of them!”
Good Neighbor Initiative
Invitation to Incarnational Ministry
The COVID-19 pandemic has both illuminated and increased the needs of many families in our community. For our vulnerable neighbors, sickness, unemployment, or a mixture of both has left them with immense financial need, food insecurity being a particularly troubling burden. As the Church, we are called to mirror the Good Samaritan, who was mirroring Jesus, in his “neighborliness” to the man beaten and left on the side of the road. Instead of leaving the vulnerable behind, Christ compels us to meet them where they are and treat them as beloved friends.
Through strategic organizational and school partnerships, we have learned of over 100 families in dire need, right here in Howard County. We have been providing food boxes to these families on a bi-weekly basis for several months with the help of our church body (including many of you!), and now we want to invite you to play an even bigger role. We are asking families, community groups, and serving teams to consider committing to being a Good Neighbor by providing food boxes to one of these neighbors in need for two months. We have learned that delivering food is often just the first step of neighborliness. This small act has the potential to be the catalyst for friendships forming, ministries launching, and gospel sharing out of our neighborhoods.