Youth and Adults Serve at Comunidad de Gracia
July 2004
During the week of July 5-9, 9 students and 3 adults from Gethsemane served as missionaries at Comunidad de Gracia (Community of Grace). Comunidad de Gracia is the new community center on the St. John Lutheran Church campus at 66th and Sherman here in Houston. St. John Lutheran Church was decommissioned in May of 2004 by the Texas District. LINC (Lutheran Inter-City Network Coalition) began work at St. John’s/Comunidad de Gracia earlier this year to begin witnessing to the community and forming a new church for the people of the community near 66th and Sherman. LINC hopes to begin worship services at Comunidad de Gracia by Thanksgiving.
During the week that youth and adults from Gethsemane served this community, we led summer camp (VBS) each morning. The students and adults alike shared the duties of leadership through music, crafts, storytelling, and games. In the afternoons, our group held devotions, canvassed the neighborhoods with fliers about the community center, performed yard work, and helped to clean-up the community center. Through this experience, we learned that most of the 40 children that came through the doors those mornings did not have a Bible in their homes. And, the majority of them had never heard the saving message of Jesus’ love through His death and resurrection for them.
It was a week of learning and growth for each of us who served because we were pulled out of our comfort zones. Most of the children that came to summer camp were bi-lingual but not all of their parents could speak English. The times that we canvassed to share news about Comunidad de Gracia were sometimes hard because we didn’t speak Spanish and many of the people didn’t speak English.
The students from Gethsemane shone during this week as they did everything that was asked of them because they knew it had to be done. They were Jesus to the kids and families at and around Comunidad de Gracia. And, they were Jesus to me. As Kathy Laurie, LINC program director, said, “You guys (Gethsemane students and adults) brought church to these kids and to me this week.” Gethsemane students also brought church to me. They showed beyond imagination what God will do with us when we allow Him to take over and use us as His vessels. May God continue the work at Comunidad de Gracia as His Word is brought to the people in that community, and may He continue the work in each of us as we, His children, step out of our comfort zones daily to love those around us because He first loved us.
In His Care,
Jennifer Tate
Director of Family Ministries
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
During the week of July 5-9, 9 students and 3 adults from Gethsemane served as missionaries at Comunidad de Gracia (Community of Grace). Comunidad de Gracia is the new community center on the St. John Lutheran Church campus at 66th and Sherman here in Houston. St. John Lutheran Church was decommissioned in May of 2004 by the Texas District. LINC (Lutheran Inter-City Network Coalition) began work at St. John’s/Comunidad de Gracia earlier this year to begin witnessing to the community and forming a new church for the people of the community near 66th and Sherman. LINC hopes to begin worship services at Comunidad de Gracia by Thanksgiving.
During the week that youth and adults from Gethsemane served this community, we led summer camp (VBS) each morning. The students and adults alike shared the duties of leadership through music, crafts, storytelling, and games. In the afternoons, our group held devotions, canvassed the neighborhoods with fliers about the community center, performed yard work, and helped to clean-up the community center. Through this experience, we learned that most of the 40 children that came through the doors those mornings did not have a Bible in their homes. And, the majority of them had never heard the saving message of Jesus’ love through His death and resurrection for them.
It was a week of learning and growth for each of us who served because we were pulled out of our comfort zones. Most of the children that came to summer camp were bi-lingual but not all of their parents could speak English. The times that we canvassed to share news about Comunidad de Gracia were sometimes hard because we didn’t speak Spanish and many of the people didn’t speak English.
The students from Gethsemane shone during this week as they did everything that was asked of them because they knew it had to be done. They were Jesus to the kids and families at and around Comunidad de Gracia. And, they were Jesus to me. As Kathy Laurie, LINC program director, said, “You guys (Gethsemane students and adults) brought church to these kids and to me this week.” Gethsemane students also brought church to me. They showed beyond imagination what God will do with us when we allow Him to take over and use us as His vessels. May God continue the work at Comunidad de Gracia as His Word is brought to the people in that community, and may He continue the work in each of us as we, His children, step out of our comfort zones daily to love those around us because He first loved us.
In His Care,
Jennifer Tate
Director of Family Ministries
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
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