Reflections on God's Work
Part 5
God is at work. In 2023, the Beacon feature articles will seek to capture a snapshot of the ways God is working in churches across our conference. We pray that these articles encourage your faith and spur you on to join God in the work he is doing in your local congregation.
~Kelsey Jurkovich, Publication & Literature Committee
A couple of years ago, Maple City Chapel adopted the tagline “belong, believe, become” to describe our mission as a church. We want the world to believe in Jesus and to become more like Jesus, but it’s difficult, if not impossible, for someone to experience spiritual transformation if they don’t first feel authentically loved and accepted. This reality has forced us to thoughtfully evaluate what we do to help people, especially the unchurched, experience belonging. While we sometimes get it wrong, it’s breathtaking to see how the Holy Spirit moves when we lead with love.
A few months ago, a man named Mike visited for the first time. He shared that seven years ago, he had a serious heart problem. Just before undergoing heart surgery, his surgeon encouraged him to consider faith in Jesus. For seven years he thought about that conversation as he drove by our church, saying to himself, “I should go to church one of these days.” Then, one day, he showed up. He used a feature on our website to plan his visit, so we knew he was coming. We were able to meet him at the door, welcome him, and make him feel like he belonged. A few weeks later, he met with one of our pastors and accepted Christ!
Day after day and year after year, the staff loved on him while speaking truth into his life.
About eight years ago, Steve showed up at our church. He was trying to get sober after decades of alcoholism. He was unemployed and asked if he could do odd jobs at the church throughout the week so he wouldn’t be tempted to drink. He was covered in tattoos, cussed every other word, and was extremely racist. Once when our African American youth pastor preached, Steve walked out muttering racial slurs. He often lost his temper and sometimes cussed out staff members. But he remained sober, and it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was working on his heart. Day after day and year after year, the staff loved on him while speaking truth into his life. To make a really long story short, a couple of months ago Steve accepted Christ, and we had the opportunity to baptize him. To make the journey even sweeter, we learned that as a teenager in the early 70’s, Steve used to hang out at Teen Haven, the youth center that eventually led to the start of our church. So, it was more than 50 years after first investing in Steve that he finally said yes to Jesus!
We recently baptized Cheyenne (16) and J.J. (12), as well as their father, Jeremiah. Cheyenne shared through tears how her father attended a men’s retreat at Maple City Chapel. She said, “We thought he would come back the same person, but we were wrong.” At the retreat, Jeremiah accepted Jesus. He started bringing his family to church every Sunday and then told Cheyenne that she was going to start attending youth group. Her response: “Absolutely not!” She said in her testimony, “I thought I was going be judged, but I was wrong again. My small group made me feel so welcomed and special, and that’s when I knew I wanted my relationship with Christ to grow.” In the coming months we will be baptizing Jeremiah’s wife, his other daughter, a brother-in-law, and a friend.
In our largest attended Easter Sunday, nearly 1,400 people heard stories from Ken, Wayne, and Pedro. They all had difficulty feeling accepted in church before experiencing belonging at Maple City Chapel. When we create a culture of belonging, it opens a person’s heart to believe truth and become more like Jesus. Jesus is risen and on the move!
2 Responses
Jay – I love these testimonies of how God is at work in and through MCCh. May God continue to bring transformed lives through the love of Jesus as expressed by His body!
❤️❤️❤️