Hello Church Family!

I miss you all so much! This has been such a strange, difficult season, but hopefully we are moving toward the other side of quarantine and social distancing and back to being able to be with one another, in person, on a regular basis. I wanted to take a little time and discuss some of what we have been through and what we expect to see as we move forward into the next few months as a church. This is a bit lengthy, but I felt putting it in text would be a little easier to follow and more broadly accessible than unloading it all in a video on social media or our website. So, let’s dive in!

What’s Next?

Remember when we thought having to move out of our meeting space in two weeks felt like a strange and overwhelming thing? We definitely got a head start on most of the church world in the weirdness department this year. I am always so thankful for the ways in which God provides for us, especially when it concerns a space to meet for worship, and we are totally trusting in him to do it again! I’m also thankful to get to do ministry and navigate all of the strangeness with such an amazing church family that encourages one another, flexes and adjusts wherever God leads, and never shifts focus off of the importance of our Gospel work.

As has been mentioned several times, one of the difficulties that we face in returning to in person worship services is the fact that the CLC building is barely big enough for us at all and certainly not big enough to allow us to follow any recommendations on social distancing. In addition to that, we were in serious talks with a local school about renting their facilities on Sunday mornings just before everything shut down and had the possibility of meeting at the Loganville American Legion as a backup on the small chance that the school didn’t work out. Now, both of those institutions are temporarily closed. I have spoken with the school’s principal this week and it looks like we can resume those conversations in mid-July once the schools know how they will be proceeding with the 2020-2021 academic year. I’m also working on reaching out to the Legion to see what things look like there and if/when they may have space available for us to meet temporarily.

The hope and prayer is to meet in house churches and continue broadcasting on Facebook Live throughout the month of June and then begin to worship together in person at the beginning of July. If no facility is available to house us yet and recommendations have not been lifted that would allow us to return to CLC for a short period of time, we are looking into the possibility of meeting in public outdoor spaces like parks and pavilions.

I want to ask you to join me in praying over the next month. Pray that we would continue to grow closer in our relationship with Christ and with one another throughout another (and hopefully the last) month worshiping from a distance. Pray that from this season of house church worship, God would raise up community groups and give us a framework and wisdom on how to be a small church that plants churches within the next couple years. And pray that God would continue to increase our number and use our church to reach people and see them saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that when we come back together we have to find a place for baptisms on a regular basis!

What Does “Next” Look Like?

There is a temptation to long to move “back to normal” and get back to life how it was before COVID-19 put our world on lock down. However, as you know, “normal” has never really been something we have aspired to at Redeeming Grace. We know that God is always working, shaping, and preparing his Church for what is to come and I believe that he has been preparing our church for anything but business as usual in the coming months and years. I am praying and believing that God, through his Holy Spirit, is about to unleash something powerful and new in the life of Redeeming Grace Community Church! I just want to spend a little time going over a couple areas that will be of incredible (continued) importance in the life of our church and what we need to be doing to prepare to live it out with the hopes and expectations of never returning to “normal.”

Community

Community has always been a vital part of our identity (I mean...it’s in our name, right?!). It is also a word that gets thrown around a lot in church language and can mean a lot of things. I’ve spoken a lot about the importance of not simply being a “nice” church or a “friendly” church, but a church marked and defined by the love of Jesus. I whole-heartedly believe this is something that is true of us and that God has been deepening consistently over the last couple of years. With that being said, our hope and desire is to see our church shaped into a type of community that is nothing less than biblical in nature and so unique that the way we live in unity and love with one another proclaims the Gospel to our city in a way that is impossible to ignore. This means that each one of us has to continue to pursue deeper, more meaningful relationships with one another by praying together, spending time together, eating together, worshiping, laughing, crying, etc. together.

Acts 2 has always been our guiding principle for how we build our church, but even still it can be difficult to break the rhythms of how church (and particularly church relationships) has been done over the last several generations. It is our desire to be dedicated together to Gospel discipleship and prayer and also to be active and present in the lives of our church family beyond Sundays and community groups. We must look for every opportunity to give sacrificially to anyone who has need not just financially or materially, but emotionally and spiritually as well. We need to continue to develop relationships that are encouraging and joyful, but are also willing to be vulnerable and uncomfortable at times and resist the desire to pull away when things are difficult. We want to share one another’s joys and burdens and love one another in a way that is not often done in a modern world where everyone is connected, but so few feel known, loved, and served. Most importantly, we want our relationships to result in seeing people saved by God’s grace, baptized into his church, and growing in their relationships with Christ and others. This all takes a lot of work and each person/family taking this calling seriously and reminding one another of it consistently, but I am confident that the end result will most certainly be worth the work and the struggle.

In a church like ours, one of the most difficult things we could endure would be a significant time of distance from one another. I know this has been difficult for me personally and I’ve heard the same from so many of you as well. I am so thankful for your patience throughout this season, but even more so your longing to be together. While this has definitely been a struggle, God has also revealed some opportunities to widen our possibilities for community as we’ve had to work outside the walls. In Acts 2, the Christians were meeting together daily, which seems like a nearly impossible task in our modern, busy world. However, being able to do morning prayer each weekday through Facebook Live has given us the ability to spend time in Scripture and prayer on a near daily basis and is something that we will continue to do beyond quarantine and social distancing and hopefully be able to add some form of in person option with it as well. Recognizing the ease and reach of social media and even sites like Zoom (although I imagine everyone may want a break from Zoom for a while) has opened up a variety of new options and ways for our folks to stay connected and deepen relationships even on days when we cannot be together in person.

As I said, when we come back together, “normal” is not the goal, but instead to continue running forward into a new, exciting, unprecedented season of deep, Gospel-shaped community at Redeeming Grace Community Church.

Ministry

As 2019 began to draw to a close, we had begun laying the foundation and planning out several areas of ministry and community that God had laid on the hearts of folks in our church. Just as a brief overview, this included:

*Expanding and deepening our ministry to children inside the church
*Summer Backyard Bible Clubs in neighborhoods in downtown Loganville as well as in the neighborhoods of church members
*Beginning steps into developing a discipleship ministry for our middle school aged students
*Development of monthly faith-based health clinics in Loganville run by our medical professionals in our church to offer basic health screenings and assistance to members of our community that cannot afford adequate health care
*Creation of an ESL class to offer free classes to non English speakers in our community as well as Spanish language classes for English speakers desiring to minister to and communicate with our Spanish speaking friends in Loganville.
*Continuing to build relationships with our neighbors in downtown Loganville by intentionally and incarnationally placing ourselves in situations where we can do that naturally and effectively (like our presence at the laundromat, regularly patronizing downtown businesses and restaurants, etc.)
*Establishing a partnership with an international church or ministry to begin offering support, prayer, and taking mission trips for the purpose of reaching the nations with the Gospel

Obviously, the last several months have placed all of these things on hold, but nothing has changed in regards to seeing these areas of ministry come to life and become a vital, defining part of who we are at Redeeming Grace. There will be some new obstacles in establishing some of these ministries and some may look different than we planned (for instance, looking for a way to offer some sort of “Backyard Bible Club” type event in the Fall, on a weekend), but I am confident that God is opening doors and laying the foundation even now for us to be able to love and serve our neighbors and reach them with the Gospel through these ministries.

I want to ask you to be praying for these areas of ministry, but also asking God in what area(s) you will serve. Ask that he would fill you with passion and prepare and equip you during this next month as we get ready to hit the ground running. I am confident that God is about to (and already) doing an incredible work in our city and is preparing our church for an incredible season of ministry like we have never seen before.

Expectations and Prayers

I’m so thankful that God has continued to draw us deeper and deeper into who he has called us to be through every season, especially the difficult ones, and I am confident that this season is no different. As we begin to come back together for in person worship, community groups, and life together, things will most definitely look different. In some ways, the way things that are different could feel discouraging and even disheartening. It is impossible to go through the kind of season that our church, community, and world has gone through over the last several months and not expect difficulties and differences when resuming normal activities and routines that cause us to feel a sense of loss. If you are feeling that now or find yourself feeling that way in the days and months to come or have any questions or concerns about life in or beyond COVID-19 for our church, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Feeling discouraged, frustrated, and/or uncertain is absolutely normal in any time, but especially times like these. I feel certain, however, that most of the things we find different in the months to come will be amazing and beautiful in ways that we could have never imagined at the start of this year. I want to ask you to be praying, seeking, and expecting over this next month as we prepare for what God has in store for Redeeming Grace Community Church. As always, if you have any questions, needs, ideas, or would just like to pray, you can call, text, or email me anytime.

I love you all and I am so thankful for each and every one of you. I cannot wait to see what God does in and through our church!

In Love and Gospel Hope,

Chris