Advent Outreach

Peggy lives in Senior Apartments in Clio.  She is a missionary.   We see every member of New Wine as being a missionary to their neighborhood.  Peggy's mission field is her apartment of 100 or so residents.  This December she will be hosting a "Advent Outreach".  We will meet once a week to work on a Christmas Craft to give away to other residents, family or friends.  Amidst our project time we will share about the Advent Wreath and its spiritual significance this time of year.  She hopes to hold this gathering in the community room near the lobby with a time of prayer at the end of the crafts party.  How are you reaching out in the holiday season?   We pray the Spirit will inspire you to reach out in creative ways in this holiday season. 

New Wine Report - Nov 2013

Jesus instructed his church to not put "New Wine" into "Old Wineskins". When dreaming about a new church start-up we chose the name "New Wine" because authentic Christian community often looks very different from the "program centered church" of America today. It seems that the latest evolution of the church has produced a church full of "spectators" more than "participants".

Life giving churches today are populated with people who are doing more than watching. I certainly am not suggesting everything in the way church has been done is bad or even ineffective. But this generation is tired of too much talk and not enough action on the part of the followers of Christ.

Even in choosing our name we are trying to communicate that our intent is to change our ways. We want to be a church where everyone understands themselves to be ministers. We want to become a church where our expectation is that we all do the ministry of serving, loving, forgiving, helping and sharing.

A light for me last month was walking into the Flushing Outreach Center and seeing several of our Cell Group members hard at work. This cooperative Christian outreach is helping hundreds of needy families in our area. This is not people miles away but these are our neighbors who those serving get to know. Jim Sartor, Deacon in Training, is now serving in a chaplain's role at the center, with his main role helping the volunteers connect with those they serve by praying, sharing or connecting them with Christian churches in our town. His gentle spirit of encouragement and modeling will help these servant-hearted people be more intentional in their Christian outreach.


I had a good chance to pass on some insights and share of our experience of trying to hear the Lord in our regular "Listening Days" with our brothers and sisters over in South Haven, Michigan. They asked me to lead them in a time of "Listening" as they press ahead after the leaving of their long time pastors, Andrew & Summer Gross. Andrew is now serving in Pittsburgh as the communication officer for the ACNA. Brian Wolthuis from Holland, Michigan is now serving in a part-time roll and they have just made the move into a new worship space, an old daycare center on the back of a local church in their community. They were encouraged by our time together as it seems that the Spirit was calling their whole fellowship to a time of "prayer and fasting" as they begin this new season in the common life. I am very excited to see what the Spirit is leading them to do and become.

I began last month by attending the Diocesan Clergy retreat in Akron, Ohio. Pat Self and I stayed with my family who live close by, but we also encouraged Rebecca from central Ohio to join us. Rebecca has been a prayer partner with New Wine for several years. In a very special set of circumstances, which include a vision in a dream, we were connected. It seems that the Lord is now leading her to come alongside Anglicans in her area (she has been ministering in a Vineyard church for many years). She has exercised a ministry of prayer and encouragement in our work in Flint and I think the Lord has now connected Rebecca with the wider Anglican community which is very exciting.

Finally, last month also proved to be a great blessing to Deb and I as I took a week off to paint our home a nice bright yellow. Now known as the "Happy House on Dale Street", we had several happy and hard working members of the church join us in this project. Weeks later I am still a little sore, but we continue to pray we can be a bright spot in our corner of Flushing.