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Dear Gospel Partners,
“Comfort is the enemy of progress.” - P.T. Barnum
In October, it was exactly a year since we left the comfort of everything familiar - our homes, our neighborhoods, our immediate families, our church, our friends, our communities, and our jobs. We left not because we were discontent or needed a new adventure; no, we left for glory. God’s glory.
As I sit on my back deck in the cool of the evening - smoking a cigar and listening to a tune from Van Morrison under the glow of city street lights, I hear sirens from the local police and fire departments. I sit with a heavy heart for our community after receiving several updates throughout the day from a local high school - Sarah and Abby’s high school - where a student was arrested and taken from the building in handcuffs for bringing a loaded gun to school today. A fresh and painful reminder of why we chose to move to the city of Greensburg. Today has not been comfortable. This past year has not been comfortable - for any of us.
Going public with a service is easy - this upcoming Sunday marks 10 weeks of 4TheCity’s public worship services in the Stage Right building. Going public was easy. The joyful labor of church planting is building a community of disciples who love one another by the empowering work of the Spirit. That’s the hard part - impossible even. We are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit - we need His presence and His power as we put one foot in front of the other and seek to love this city in word and deed.
So what has been happening this past month? We have loved building a relationship with Jess from Downtown Greensburg Project! We have had the opportunity to set up a booth at every single Night Market and Holiday Market this year full of fun activities for the kids in our community.
Hope also connected us to RSVP Gifts and More, where she is employed. We partnered with this local business in their first ever Winter Coat Drive - other local churches, people in our community and surrounding communities pulled together to provide winter attire to local schools and neighbors in need. This was a good visual of James 2 14-26:
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
This is where the tangible and spiritual needs of a person collide, and we are honored to have partnered with our community in this way.
4TheCity strongly believes that our understanding of the gospel informs our identity as a local church. Being has to precede doing. Living life in Greensburg and coming around the gospel of Jesus as people who are set apart is changing us as we live with gospel intentionality in the everyday stuff of our lives - as we seek to share and show the transforming power of the gospel with those who are in front of us.
We understand that our labor is not about butts in seats but rather feet in this city. At the end of the day, our aim isn’t to plant a church but to make disciples. Our ongoing prayer is that if we make disciples long enough; empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, we will see a vibrant church planted and taking root in Greensburg, PA.
As I’ve said before, this kind of church planting approach doesn’t necessarily lead to the ABC’s of church growth - attendance, buildings, and cash. Which is why your continued support is so desperately needed. Because of faithful, supporters like you, we’ve been able to love and serve the “least of these” in very tangible ways - while leading them not to a building, but to a Person as we invite them into the family of God.
By God’s kindness, we have welcomed a few new people into our gathering. They were strangers who became friends who are now family. We have also had several people join us for our worship services but have since moved on. This is all very normal activity in a new church plant.
Something we are very excited about and want to share with you is that we have a verbal agreement with Stage Right to continue on in their building for 2022 - praise God - this is a huge praise! And because of a local woman’s generosity and love for Jesus, we also have acquired office space in the heart of downtown Greensburg to use as a mission outpost! We were introduced to this special woman earlier this year and have enjoyed building a genuine relationship with her. We are seeing God’s faithfulness to provide for us every step of the way through the generosity of His people - people like you.
So, please continue your prayer and financial support into 2022 as we leverage these two spaces for gospel advancement in our wonderful city.
I’m thoroughly convinced you cannot love a city if you don’t know a city. And you certainly cannot reach a city if you do not live in it. In the past year we’ve been working hard to know the people of Greensburg - and through our efforts to know it, we’re falling in love with it more and more.
We’re realizing that the brokenness of city ministry is in your face - it’s often different than suburban ministry. The needs are great. The majority of the people we are interacting with have nothing to give. We are confident that we have everything we need in Jesus and so we strive to give them everything we have in hopes that they receive everything they could ever need in Him.
We can’t do this alone. We weren’t meant to do this alone. We need gospel partners like you. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the church of Philippi:
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Since moving here, we have been loved with open arms by some. We have also been held at arms length by others. We have been and will continue to look for any open doors, windows, cracks and crevices for the gospel of Jesus to shine brightly into the hearts of those who have yet to receive salvation.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We are first and foremost dependent on the Holy Spirit. We are also dependent on our faithful, generous gospel partners who enable us to reach out to those who have nothing to give but everything to gain. We will touch base with you and keep you updated through our quarterly newsletters moving forward. Look for more updates via social media. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Here are a few things we would love continued prayer for:
- Pray we would have a close walk with Jesus and bear gospel fruit.
- Pray for our church to have favor within our city.
- Pray for more laborers.
- Pray that the Lord would continue to open up hearts to the gospel and doors to community ministry.
Gospel On...
~ Pastor Scott
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