I believe lots of us would say that family is our first ministry. I certainly learned that as I served as a missionary in Ecuador from the families that I worked with, long before I was married or had children. Service, outreach, missions, and ministry all starts at home. In my 8 years of being married and two years with a child I can see how that is SO true.
So...as I write this I am almost 40 weeks pregnant and hoping that by next week I will have a little baby in my arms and will be taking a break from blogging on here for 6 weeks until I come back to work. If you need anything while I am gone please contact the church office (all the info is on the contact page here) I would love to explore the topic of being intentional about ministry at home soon - maybe that will be my first blog when I get back!! There will be lots going on while I'm gone... look for church communications on Mary H. Wright, The Northside work day, SPIHN, and mission teams. Here is a link back to our church website where you can look at the latest weekly events. On the bottom right it says Bell Ringer and that will have the latest edition. Until after baby!! Ciao!!
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I have been thinking a lot about this lately. What is serving? How do we serve? Why serve?
There has been so much information in my mind lately about service to others. As I observe people and churches, the most vibrant ones I have seen, are those that concentrate on serving others. There is a joy and a light that shines through when we put ourselves aside and focus on someone or something else. As a church community, I think serving others is essential to our success of shining Christ's light in our larger community and in the world. As the director of Outreach and Missions I wonder about the best ways to engage our church community in doing this. If you have any thoughts I would always love to hear them! That is my thought and challenge for today... We recently hosted our first 2017 SPIHN. I am always grateful for the experience to have these families at our church. It helps me to remember how much we need each other and what a blessing it is to give.
SPIHN is basically a homeless shelter that works to keep families together and keep costs low. It does that by housing families in churches for one week increments. The majority of the families are single moms working hard to make ends meet. There are usually moms in the program that have children close to my little boys age. It is so interesting to hear their stories, struggles, and reality. These are not dead-beat moms who can't get it together, they are moms just like me who are struggling to do the best they can for their family. However, for these moms the rug has been pulled out from under them. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to take my two year old to a new "home" week after week because we don't have a place of our own. I understand much more as a working mom the struggle that it can be to keep everything together. I am so grateful that I have my better half (my hubby) working by my side, but that is not a reality for all moms. I guess more than anything, SPIHN makes me realize how much we need each other as God's community of believers. We need to lift each other up, to offer a place to stay, to love on kids, to offer warm meals. This is not just for our friends it is for all. As we begin Lent, I want to continue to remember God's call to hospitality and love! |
Laura EstevezDirector of Outreach and Missions at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Archives
June 2017
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