Memorial Missions - July 2012
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Transcript of Memorial Missions - July 2012
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“One of the most formative trips of my life”
MEMORIALMISSIONSJu
ly 1
, 201
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What do you get when you combine ten youth, seven adults and the most diverse and largest metro area in the United States?
Yeah, you get a bit of chaos...but you also get your socks blessed off!
From June 9-‐16 a team of 17 disciples from Memorial headed to Newark/New York to learn, serve and pray alongside a Lutheran house church planLng movement. For a whole week the group lived in an African immigrant church in Newark, prayed in the projects, painted, walked the streets of New York, prayed for strangers and blessed the community. Along the way, the LORD spoke to them and changed their hearts as well.
Over the last few years Rev. Jim Buckman, mission strategist for the AtlanLc District of the LC-‐MS, stoked mission planLng efforts through house churches. One of the newest house churches is being planted by Charles Carter in East Orange, New Jersey under the direcLon of Rev. Lawrence Gboeah. The pair are Liberian immigrants, but their hope is to reach the mulL-‐ethnic melange that surrounds Carter’s apartment complex.
“This group was definitely ‘in their element,’” said Pastor Buckman, “they ‘got it’ right from the start and were an immense blessing.”
For their part, the team was also blessed by the experience.
“Ge^ng to see how the Liberian church worshipped and plans on planLng house churches was really cool,” said one parLcipant.
“It was a blessing to see their enthusiasm for worship, prayer and mission. They were willing to accept us as family and we can see that they will welcome the community into their home as well.”
Another missionary said, “Prayer walks were a great way to learn and be empowered to pray more for others. It was also cool to have so many spontaneous opportuniLes along the way in restaurants, on the street and touring.”
They concluded saying, “Who knew the Kingdom of God could expand through such a simple act as knocking on a door and saying a prayer?”
Thanks for all the support, in prayer & finances!
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Kenya deadline fast approaching There was a lot of energy following Memorial Katy’s Maono (Vision) Sunday when Pastor Davis, Brenda, Pastor Leland and Sieg shared their experience and our church’s vision for a partnership in Kenya. Since then, many expressed interest in going to Kenya on our next vision clinic trip October 18-28 and many others donated to the cause.
If you are interested in going on the trip the application deadline is July 15. At this time a $600 deposit is also due with the rest of the bill coming later in August and September. As mentioned, we fundraised quite a bit to help our next team, so do not let money be the issue! In te res ted app l ican ts should contact Vicar Chitwood ASAP to procure an application. Contact him at [email protected] or call at 832.795.3564.
You’re invited to a feast...
a feast for five…thousand!
This year ’s Music in Mission VBS camp is a musical based on the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand. There are only two miracles consistently listed in all four Gospels: the Resurrection and the feeding of the five thousand. Throughout the week in Bible times, drama & choir sessions, mission projects & crafts, the children attending will learn about the greatest miracle: how God uses the small, not-so-likely, to accomplish His will. And what is his will? That all people would come into relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And how does God do this? He sent Jesus, a man who had “no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him… rejected by men (Is. 53:2b-3a)” to bring salvation to us!
Likewise, in the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus uses a small boy’s lunch of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed a multitude! God cares for us, for our eternal needs and our physical present needs. And he works through small, normal people like you and me to accomplish His will of offering life and salvation through Jesus Christ. Save the date for July 13 at 6pm – invite your friends and family to the closing dinner and
musical production for the Katy community. And pray that God’s love would touch the hearts of those who hear His word of salvation through the kids songs and skits.
Still want to sign up or help with the camp? Contact Music Director E l i z a b e t h C h i t w o o d a t [email protected]
MEM
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The next Kenya vision clinic trip is October 18-28. The deadline for applications is July 15.
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In the fall, Memorial will begin to launch ACTS Communi@es in, and around, the Katy area.
In our effort to extend the community of Christ in the heart of Katy and beyond we see these communi@es of believers living out the rhythm of life in mission as essen@al to our vision.
Our ACTS Communi@es func@on as “missional” communi@es. The ACTS stands for Accepted by God, accep@ng of others, Connected in Christ, connec@ng with others, Trained and training and Serving our community.
If you are s@ll wondering what a missional, or ACTS, community is here is an ar@cle from Mike Breen on the “5 Essen@al Ingredients of a Missional (ACTS) Community.”
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We’ve been doing Missional CommuniLes for years and years, and in that Lme, we’ve always tried to boil it down to the most essenLal ingredients to help pass it on to others.
In the last year, I believe we’ve most simply honed it down to these 5 essen7al ingredients of a Missional Community:
•. Size of an extended family. A missional family is best understood in the range of 20-‐50 people, as it is small enough to care but large enough to dare. From much experience, I’d say it can be difficult to sustain long-‐term missional acLvity for a group smaller than this.
•. UP/IN/OUT. IntenLonally lives out the three dimensions of Jesus’ life. UPward dimension of life with the Father, INward dimension of life with the Body of Christ together, OUTward dimension of fully stepping into a broken world.
•. Clear mission vision. Who is this Missional Community trying to bring the Kingdom of God to? The most successful MC’s have a very clear answer that could only be true of their group.
•. Lighweight/Low maintenance. If the Missional Community can’t be led by people with normal 9-‐5 jobs who aren’t paid to do it, it’s not lightweight and low maintenance enough. It’s got to be simple and reproducible.
•. A c c oun t a b l e l e a d e r s . T h e person(s) leading the Missional C o m m u n i t y n e e d t o b e accountable to others so there exists a dynamic of low control and high accountability. It’s one thing t o s a y y o u h o l d p e o p l e accountable, it’s another thing to do this well.
If done well, these can lead to the incredible phenomenon of a scagered and gathered church where it is the lay leaders of the church being released to the edges of the missional fronLer, seeing extraordinary Kingdom breakthrough.
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Interested in leading, or being a part of, an ACTS community? Our ACTS community pilot will launch August 26. Contact Vicar Ken Chitwood for more informa@on -‐ [email protected] //
“If done well, these can lead to the incredible phenomenon of a scattered
& g a t h e r e d c h u r c h . . . s e e i n g extraordinary Kingdom breakthrough.”
The 5 Essential Ingredients of an ACTS CommunityBy Pastor Mike Breen of 3DM
MEM
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July
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat1 2 3 4
Happy Independence
Day!
5 6 7
8 9Music in
Mission Camp
10Music in
Mission Camp
11Music in
Mission Camp
12Music in
Mission Camp
13Music in
Mission Camp & Musical
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15Kenya
Application Deadline
16 17 18 19Youth at
Glorybound
20Youth at
Glorybound
21Youth at
Glorybound
22Youth at
Glorybound
23Youth at
Glorybound
24 25 26 27 28
MEM
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August
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat29 30 31 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19Youth at Krause
20 21 22 23 24Second Kenya Deposit Due
25
26ACTS
Community Pilot Launch
27 28 29 30 1 2