Dear Church,
"What does community look like?"
This open-ended question was in our thoughts and conversations before March 2020. But after the last 15 months, as we often were alone seeking connection together, and sharing meals over Zoom, this question drove innovation, reflection, and a continued search for belonging.
The prospect of post-Covid life has given way to key questions about what we want our lives to look like, in light of the lessons we have learned. World Partners is inviting you to consider what invitation God may be giving as we re-engage with our neighbourhoods and the larger world around us.
As followers of Jesus, we receive encouragement from the Word, both through God’s instruction, and the example of the early church. The early church was fitted together by a unity in the Spirit, a gathering that was wholly counter-cultural, as all shared from the same table.
We are called to extend our tables for more to gather - from all languages, cultures, faiths, and social locations. Our lives are enriched by the people we develop relationship with who bring the gift of a different perspective and experience. We can expand our learning, deepen our understanding of God’s grace and mercy, and extend our capacity for love. As one result, we receive the fullness of God’s blessing from being in this type of community.
“The foreigner residing among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19: 33-34
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Ephesians 4:15-17
As we journey together this week, we will hear from some of EMCC people who have been fitted together with refugees, and the ways Jesus has shaped their minds and hearts as a result.
JUNE 15
A Story from Cornerstone Oromo Christian Missions Centre, Calgary.
JUNE 16
Interview with Lucy Chaimiti, serving with Adam House, Toronto.
JUNE 17
Reflection from Pam Hicks, serving on the EMCC National Team and her friend Ben, a recently settled refugee, Kitchener.
JUNE 18
Reflecting, and preparing to participate on World Refugee Day
World Refugee Prayer Summit
What can you do today to demonstrate co-belonging with other followers of Jesus and many more from around the world? Together, we can listen and co-experience the hope that Jesus is demonstrating in refugees' lives and the communities they are fitted together in.
