On the Missio Dei

Theology Made Easy

Yesterday, we said "goodbye" to the women who had stayed in our church for the past week. We hope that it will only be a temporary goodbye -- that the women will continue attending LFC and/or will stay in contact with people who served at the shelter. One of the women wrote this on her comment card this Sunday:

I love this Church and the members I have met.  Everyone has been so very kind and generous to me.  Thank you.

Way to go, Lake Forest! On the last night of the shelter, a Community Group (including a slew of kids) came to serve and eat dinner. Several of the kids made these placemats for every guest:

 

"God loves you. I love you too!" Being missionaries of God's love means that we proclaim the first sentence and live out the second sentence. Thanks to Emily for the clearest statement of missional theology in LFC history! And so we celebrate:

--The kids of LFC living on God's mission 

--Chantelle getting a job on Sunday

--Nancy being accepted in a YWCA residential program

--Faith Liberation Church, Asbury United Methodist Church, and Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church (celebrating 200 years next November)...all of whom partnered with LFC this past week to serve meals to the women staying with us

--The many people who served at our shelter for the first time this past week

--The continued intertwining of the lives of people at LFC and of the most vulnerable people in our city.

And yet there is still much about our lives, our city, and our world to lament. We will do that together starting this Sunday.
 

Salvation Army and More

It's a crazy (that means AWESOME) week of Missio Dei at Lake Forest. Highlights include:

-On Friday, the children at Studio 252 were the first to learn about the church-wide Christmas Toy Drive we're going to have on Friday, Nov 6 and Sunday, Nov 8. They will lead us into generosity towards others.

-Last Sunday, our India team was formally commissioned by the Elders and Mission Team. Today, they leave for a 2-week trip on which they will care for orphans and minister to the sick in rural villages--all in partnership with long-time LFC friend Pastor Nandu.

-And all week, 7 nights in a row, we've been hosting an overflow women's shelter in our buidling, in partnership with the Salvation Army. It takes a small army to pull these weeks off--and the women staying with us have felt extremely loved (because they are!). Enjoy the picture of our family dinner below.

 
   
When you see the shower towels draped over the balcony stairs on Sunday, hopefully you will celebrate all the ways we (as a church) have joined the Missio Dei over this week. And perhaps you will be inspired to join us as a participant--not just a cheerleader--in the not-so-distant future.

Thank You

Several of the women who stayed in our overflow shelter here at LFC (in partnership with Salvation Army) this past week wrote a thank you note to our congregation. I hope that we are all encouraged by it. And, for those actively involved in caring for these women throughout the entire week, I hope the note is especially meaningful to you...

We came and you gave us rest for our soul! To all the warm and welcoming people at Lake Forest Church—we wish to extend a hardy welcome of thanks for all you’ve done for us this week. We love each and every one of you.

 

Thank you,

 

Cathy, Gabrielle, Jean, Miranda, Esther, Faye, Yvonne, Vonnie, Jacqueline, Cathrine

Salvation Army Shelter: Week 1 is Done

If you did not serve at the first week of our overflow shelter for women (in partnership with Salvation Army), then you missed out on having this for dessert:

 

It has been a wonderful week, both for the women staying in our building and for the small army of LFC folks who have served this week. As the week ends…

We celebrate:

-Tracy moving into stable housing through a program at the YWCA

-Esther getting a job on Wednesday

-7 women taking Bibles from our worship center

-Miranda serving at Studio 252 on Friday night

-The continued intertwining of the lives of Lake Forest (both individually and corporately) with the lives of Mecklenburg’s most vulnerable people.

We lament:

-Renee's decision to leave the program at Salvation Army Center of Hope. May God protect her as she lives on the streets of Charlotte.

-The murder of Pam’s son and the hurt it causes her family

And somewhere between celebration and lament, we have hope. Hope in God’s new creation and hope that we can somehow be a snapshot of that new creation here and now.

(perhaps a snapshot of the new creation...)

 

 

Local Missio Dei: FLC and LFC

Hey, everyone. It's Michael Flake. We are nearly half-way through our first week of hosting an overflow shelter (in partnership with Salvation Army) here in our building. We'll do it again from Sept 28-Oct 5. Email me if you want to serve that week (mflake@lakeforest.org).

There have been a lot of exciting stories coming from our first days together. Many people from Lake Forest (both Ministry Partners and regular attendees) are developing deeper relationships with 12 women who call the streets of Charlotte home. These relationships are challenging preconceptions and are bringing about the first steps of transformation. As a church, we are beginning to find ourselves more and more intertwined with some of our city's most vulnerable people.

But something else really cool happened the other night. As God leads us more and more into his mission of reconciling love, we are not only becoming intertwined with vulnerable people. We are also becoming more intertwined with other people who follow Christ. On Monday night, the deaconesses from Faith Liberation Church (about a mile north of the 277 loop) prepared and served dinner for our 12 guests and the LFC folks serving at the shelter that night. Over dinner, I talked with several of the deaconesses about their church and ways that LFC and FLC (Faith Liberation Church) might work together. Note: if you don't see me at LFC one weekend, I am definitely at FLC.

During our next week of the Overflow Shelter, the deaconesses from Faith Liberation will be back. And on other nights of that week, we will also have groups from Asbury UMC (located in rural Huntersville) and Clinton Chapel AME Zion (oldest predominately African-American church in Charlotte) joining us. Lake Forest is not the only church in the area--and as God leads us more fully into his mission in this world, we will enter into deeper relationships with other Christ followers already on that mission.

 

(L to R: Carrie, Sandy, Michael, Katlynn, Ann, Betty, Vicki --- all but Michael attend Faith Liberation)

Local Missio Dei: Women's Shelter this week!

Lake Forest—We are having guests over, and they’re staying with us all week. 12 women who call the streets of Charlotte home will be eating and sleeping and laughing and enjoying themselves under our roof. (We're doing this in partnership with the great folks at Salvation Army.) And we have a slew of Ministry Partners ready to be ministers and messengers of God’s reconciling love—people who are attune both to the physical and spiritual lives of our guests.

And so if you’re around the building at all this week, you may notice some things look out of place. The furniture has moved around a bit. People will be hanging towels where we usually don’t hang towels. Things are going to be a little different this week. Like I said, we’re having guests over.

And if you see someone this week or weekend at the church who looks a little out of place, I’d encourage you to say hello and to make her feel welcomed here. You might find that this woman is not simply our guest but is actually our neighbor.