"1 Killed in Shooting" was last night's local frontpage headline. Our Cedar Valley is no stranger to the problems that are plaguing our cities across the country. What is the responsibility of God's people but to be light in the darkness, love in the hate, hope in the despair?
One thing I love about ccda is that it is church-based. The Church throughout history has always extended herself and addressed the pain of society...feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, caring for the sick...with the love and hope and promise of Jesus. Here's how the ccda web-site words it:
"It is the writer's position that nothing other than the community of God's people is capable of affirming the dignity of the poor and enabling them to meet their own needs. It is practically impossible to do effective wholistic ministry apart from the local church. A nurturing community of faith can best provide the thrusts of evangelism, discipleship, spiritual accountability, and relationships by which disciples grow in their walk with God. One problem today has been that the church is not involved in developing its communities. Often, the church has been an unfriendly neighbor in communities across our country. Churches are guilty of being open only on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and being almost irrelevant to the needs of the people around them. Because of this, many para-church organizations have started to do the work of loving their neighbor that the church had neglected. Christian Community Development sees the church as taking action towards the development of its community."
When I compare the needs and gifts of my church homes to the needs and gifts of the under-resourced community, I see puzzle pieces that fit beautifully together for mutual growth and development. When I'm at Harvest, I see a ccda church in action...a community of faith in love with Jesus, wholistically ministering to many who've been marginalized- working to empower, disciple, develop folks. When I'm at Orchard, I see a faith community in love with Jesus and full of joy, full of love for kids, full of leadership and professional gifts and skills. When I'm around the Walnut neighborhood, I experience a solidarity born out of shared struggle and need for one another and a longing for something better. As I weave my way in and out of these three communities, I cannot help but think we are all meant for one another. What better time than right now to begin to link together so that Christ might redeem broken lives and places, and so that His people might reflect His life and light to a watching world?
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