A Heart for Your Community

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​ALONG WITH LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE POST.*

Do you love where you live? Before you answer, let me phrase this a little differently. Do you love the community you live in enough to bring them to Jesus?

I asked this question in 2013, while we were part of a church plant in the Southills of Pittsburgh.

In 2012, we moved back to the Southhills of Pittsburgh. For the next year, we worked to connect with the community. Our kids were embedded. They were involved in the schools, sports, and friendships. We were getting to know our neighbors, the teachers, the coaches, and the parents of our kids friends. 

We moved there to lead a church plant. As part of this church plant, there was excitement and anticipation for what God was going to do with and through the church. The biggest part of our time working in the Southhills was how God gave us a heart for that community.

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Now it's 2023, and we're here in West Virginia. And once again God is calling us to serve the community with live in. In last Monday's blog, Happy Thanksgiving 2023, we looked at Jeremiah 29. In the verses we read, we saw how God had called the Israelites to live where they were. Where they were was in exile. They were taken from their homeland and subjected to the rule of a king and kingdom that did not know God. But while the Israelites longed to be back in their homeland, God told them to stay put; to build homes, marry and grow their families, and work for the good of the community.

We've often encouraged our kids to, "Bloom where God Plants You." The idea being the similar to what we read in Jeremiah 29, "do life where I've put you."  That brings us back to our initial question, "Do you love where you live?" Or better, "Do you love the community you live in enough to bring them to Jesus?"

If you're familiar with the church we see in the early chapters of Acts, you find a church focused on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the neighbors around them and within the community. It was a ministry of love to their neighbors; from those who live next door, around the corner, two streets away, and even across town. There was a heart for the community, and at the center of that heart was a desire to share the Gospel.

As you think about your neighbors, your community, do you have a heart for them to know Jesus? Do you want to reach them for the glory of God? Do you want to see your neighbors come to know of God's love for them, His gift of grace, and the abundant life we were meant to live through Jesus Christ?

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get it in time for christmas

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Do you want to see the church (your church) become a place of hope and healing, faith and forgiveness, love and compassion? Do you want to see people worship their Creator, not just on Sunday's while sitting in a building, but to live their lives to bring glory and honor to God in obedience? Do you want to see people who hear the Gospel of Jesus, receive His love and forgiveness, and become disciples of His word, growing in faith and spiritual maturity?

Do you want to watch as your neighbors discover their God-given gifts, then turn around and use them to serve those around them? Do you want those new family members to become ambassadors of the King? Men and women, students and children who speak truth in love, who make it their purpose to share God's love with others. Do you want to see a church be raised up with the desire to see the whole community impacted as they become the hands and feet of Jesus? Do you want to see a generation move forward into the world to change the world for the glory of Christ.

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Christmas is a great opportunity to love your community. Not only is it a season where many consider attending a church, but it's also a season where many feel like they're missing something and begin looking for that something. We know that that something is Jesus.

In our church we talk about the, 'One More'. The question frequently asked is, "Who is your one more?" The idea is, we all have someone in our lives who we love and would love for them to know Jesus. They are your one more. One more to bring to Jesus.

Do you have a one more? Is there someone who come to mind about when you hear or think about the gospel? Is there someone that you are currently praying for? Is there someone you have been wanting to invite to church? Now is your time! Why not invite that person to church this Christmas season?

​Make this Christmas season a time of rescue. Bring someone to church with you!

​Merry Christmas!

- jay

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