May, 2008

“If you want to change society, then you must tell an alternative story.” – Ivan Illich

 

Greetings from Clovis New Mexico! We have been living out here for nearly five years now, working for a small congregation among other things. Life has been mostly great, but sometimes we get discouraged. It feels like we have been giving a lot and receiving fairly little spiritually and emotionally. A friend recently came out to visit, listened to our story, and suggested we make a newsletter of sorts to keep friends and family posted. We’ve done this in the past, when we were going on missions, and we’d ask for support (money and prayer). Lately we’ve realized a deep need for prayer, so this is our “requesting support” letter – but we’re not asking for money! Just Prayer!!!

     Ministry & family go hand in hand, but we will start by separating the subjects. Hopefully this will be a blessing to read.

 

Ministry:

     I (Josh) have been at Kingswood UMC since October 2003 working to start a small group ministry (that’s evolved into a Sunday night Discipleship program), bring a missions emphasis, increase local service, did a stint in the youth room, and most recently: neighborhood community development. My title is Director of Discipleship, which is basically a way of getting around the title of associate pastor.

     We have a small group in our home that has been meeting consistently since we first had our own place in Clovis. We have seen lots of people come and go (we have an Air force base that keeps the young adults moving on). I think there have been a lot of lives changed through that little house-community; the revolving door allows us to send people out to start their own groups frequently. We have atheists, moms and kids, former church-workers, mentally disabled folk, homeless folk – a lot of diversity in the group.

     An exciting development at the church is a men’s group that does Bible study with a recovery program in town. The Beacons of Light take in men and women coming out of jail, or off of drugs and alcohol, often all of the above, and place them in a residential treatment program. The Beacons have been in service for two years, and KUMC men have had a consistent presence with them even before the program was on its own. Many of the Beacon graduates go on to succeed in recovery, find productive placement in society, and reintegrate into their families. It is a redemption ministry. Men who were dead through sin (dead to families, dead to joy, dead in spirit) have been given new life. Resurrection!

     One of the KUMC men working with the Beacons of Light is a retired police chief. It is a wonder and a Kingdom situation that an ex-cop and an ex-con can befriend each other, love each other, and learn from the scriptures together.

     There are a lot of great things going on out here, and we’ll share more with the next edition. I want to close my portion by saying that serving an institutional, mainstream congregation is not my dream job – but it does bring clarity about my life’s calling. I realize that I am a missionary at heart, not a pastor. So we wrestle and think about the future these days. Specifically we are asking the Lord about, and exploring moving into intentional community. Candace will tell you about that.

 

 

From Candace:

Family:

     Sometimes it is more difficult for me to see my life in Clovis as a ministry. There are many wonderful things about my life here, but it seems easier to describe Josh’s work as actual ministry. I graduated with my Masters in Counseling in December. Since then, I have been staying home with our precious son, Jedidiah. I LOVE staying home with him. It is such a privilege to watch him learn about the world and to see his vibrant personality and free spirit as he goes through a normal day. As he is developing as a person, I am developing as a mom. His birth led to a lot of exploration and discovery of new interests for me. Not only have I gained an insatiable desire to learn about pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering, I have also discovered within myself a few somewhat related passions, including cooking, gardening, and sewing. I never thought that such simple, down-to-earth activities were in my future. But, I am having a blast learning. It’s like a whole world of activities I never thought of before have been opened up to me. Somehow, I feel more connected to the world that God created when I do these things.

     As a part of my development as a mom, I am forming my own perspectives and parenting practices. I have read all sorts of perspectives, and I find that almost all of them are backed by reasons and studies. I have had to decide my own parenting style, based upon my own heart, my faith, my personality, and a lot of reading. Each day, I feel a little more confident of my parenting style. I find phrases and simple strategies that work for Jedidiah and for me. I pray that I am not doing things really wrong, although I do make plenty of mistakes. I thank God that Jedidiah is resilient and a natural happy kiddo and that God has a lot of grace for me. I am enjoying the journey.

 

A Little More About Ministry (from Candace):

     In Clovis, I have a few other small areas of ministry outside of mothering my barely-a-baby-anymore boy. I have just helped with the National Day of Prayer by making prayer stations for the prayer vigil. I also got to speak to some of the women in our community at a women’s prayer breakfast on the National Day of Prayer. The women were eager to hear about healing prayer, and they spent a good deal of time praying! Also, I am heading up a community garden located in a lot next to our church. I am hoping to include many people in the process, including church members, children, youth, and neighborhood people. Eventually, we hope to share the food in a Kingdom sort of way. We may have a big cookout, a free meal in the fellowship hall, classes on how to cook vegetables and how to can them, and much more. I’d appreciate your prayers for this new effort at our church. Please pray that things will actually grow, too. Finally, I help Josh lead a weekly small group in our home – I think he already mentioned this. I hope that, in some small way, I am an encouragement to my friends here and elsewhere. I am thankful for the exhortations of others into my life.

     As I look to the future, I think that I am ready for some change in my outer circles. Of course, the inner circles of my life would remain intact wherever I am – I would still be a wife and a mother. Housework, cooking, and everyday mothering activities would probably still fill my time. Yet, I think that, perhaps, in a little different context, my life might line up more with the broader call of Jesus on my life. I would like to live in a place where community is more intentional – both for the sake of personal renewal and ministry to others. I would also like to be helping the poor more intentionally in my everyday life. I would like for Jedidiah to grow up seeing that his parents DO what they believe, and not that they just talk endlessly about another way. I’m not sure how my counseling degree fits in with all of this. I know that it is training that I want to use and that it could be useful in many settings. Please pray with me about this. I need God’s wisdom and peace in this area.

    

Exploring Our Next Steps:

Two weeks ago, we took a trip to Chicago to visit an intentional Christian community there, Reba Place Fellowship. They have a website that is really informative, if you would like to learn more (www.rebaplacefellowship.org ). We had a great visit. Reba Place was established over 50 years ago. It is a great mix of older people who have lived in community for a long time, and younger people with new zeal and fresh ideas. We stayed in the Reba Place guest house and had meals with different people associated with the community. Reba Place owns houses and apartments throughout a neighborhood in Evanston (outside of Chicago). Many of these residences are filled with members or friends of the fellowship. Others are rented out to people at reduced prices. Some people in the community live in “households” of up to 12 people. Others live in single-family apartments. Most people in the community work outside jobs, but there are some jobs within the community – Reba Place office, Ten Thousand Villages store, Amish furniture store, Recyclery Bicycle Shop, and Reba Early Learning Center. The highlight of the weekend for us was worshipping at Reba Place Church. We loved the genuine, intimate feel of the church, probably a result of so many of its members living in community together. We also loved that they had a sharing time at the end of church after the sermon.

 

We are considering whether or not living at Reba Place will be a part of our future. We have not made a decision, yet. Our long-term goal at this time is to start a community of our own at some point in our lives. We feel that living in intentional Christian community and learning from others is the first step in this process for us. Please pray with us as we make this significant decision.