Mission Anabaino Update November 2015

MA Update November 2015

Report from Executive Director Rev. Dr. Preston Graham

Dear Supporters and Friends of MA,

This, like all our monthly updates, wants to give you a peek into what God is doing in Mission Anabaino. As through a window of transcendence, we see from our earthly vantage point what Christ is doing in his ascension ministry as mystically transacted “on earth as it is in heaven” (c.f. Mt 16:19, Eph 1:15-23). For in the words of T. F. Torrance:

"The spirit operates by creation out of the word, a body which St. Paul calls the Body of Christ… As such, this body becomes matched to Christ's head as His vis-à-vis in history and as the instrument of His saving purpose in the Gospel. It is the sphere where through the presence of the Spirit the salvation events of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are operative here and now in history, the sphere wherever within the old creation the new creation has broken in with power."

-Thomas F. Torrance, Royal Priesthood

I know! This is a quote you have to read several times to truly comprehend. But so too, the mystery of Christ’s sacramental union with his church is hard to wrap our heads around, but observed each and every time a church is birthed. Most of MA’s stories are about the births of churches that you support by prayer and financial assistance! I hope then you will be encouraged to peek as through a foggy window perhaps into two very different birth stories—one an inner-city low-income church plant in New Haven, the other a center-city young millennial urban facing church plant in San Francisco.

As you pray for these and the many other initiatives noted in this update, please be in prayer for a core group that is currently meeting in Ndola, Zambia, led by evangelist-church planter Lawrence Temfwe. This group is using the MA website to study Confessional Theology in their desire to launch a “Total Christ” church in this strategic college town of Zambia. Pray as I meet with them by monthly video-conference, and the plan for me to meet with them and teach in a local seminary in May. Likewise, pray for an emerging core group in the college town of Kalamazoo, MI as they too study together the Total Christ theology and values in route to becoming an MA church plant.

We can be encouraged to see such evidence of a growing movement in Total Christ collaboration and church planting as long as it really is about Christ! For more on the MA training classes that these and other groups are utilizing online, visit the Training section of the MA website.

Affectionately and Enthusiastically,

“No other church does this.”
I’ve heard this a number times over the last year.

If one thing stands out over this past year, it is the amazing ability of the Hill church to connect with its community. I have come to truly appreciate the core group here at Christ Presbyterian Church in The Hill. This small group of people a year ago, a little confused, hurt, skeptical, yet still discipled well (thanks Pastor Tolivar!) to be a family and be focused on loving their neighbors, moved forward in confidence that Christ was still in their midst. The core group has been able to maintain its weekly Sunday worship, its discipleship and Bible studies, and, as well, sustained its impact on the community through events and activities. Almost without fail, at a community event or activity, someone would approach me to say they appreciate how we “get into the neighborhood and love the people.”

Christ Presbyterian Church in The Hill has maintained and even strengthened its connection to its neighborhood, the Hill community of New Haven, CT. Throughout the past year, events like fall leaf raking, the Christmas store, movie nights, ladies Bible study, and the summer Impact Mercy week soccer camp continued to make an impact in the community. The summer “In His Midst” park BBQ ministry saw between 50-60 people each week at Trowbridge Square Park, for hot dogs and hamburgers, a park sermon, prayer, and some neighborly fellowship. To celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of school for our kids, the Hill Church hosted a neighborhood sidewalk BBQ down the street from our place of worship at the home of one of our members. We sent letters to all the summer soccer camp families, went up and down the street inviting everyone sitting on their porches and front steps, and told people walking by on the sidewalk to join us. In the end we saw easily over 120 people stop by—they ate, we talked, shared our stories and listened to theirs, and shared the love of Jesus with our neighbors.

As the summer came to a close and the fall has dawned upon us, we have seen an increase in participation at worship, ladies Bible Study, and fellowship events—some new people and some finally returning. The core group and some of the newer families have begun to meet each month to plan for future events and other ways to reach our Hill neighbors with the gospel. CPC in The Hill is truly a community-focused congregation, seeking ways to be Christ in the midst of their neighbor’s lives.

- Rev. Chip Anderson