Power of Partnerships: Latest News From Leon and Tina Longard

Power of Partnerships

A popular assumption in America is that for a faith community to do anything significant it needs to be a large congregation or mega-church. I often have conversations with people who assume Diakonos must be a large church based on the types of projects we have taken on over the years, especially the tiny house project. They are often surprised when they learn we are a small house church community that struggles to maintain consistent attendance at our weekly gatherings. I then tell them that networking and partnership have helped us to do many of the things we do. These partnerships continue to grow as we move ahead with the building of Circle City Village.

Recently one of the churches we partner with in building Circle City Village held a Winter Festival for their neighborhood. It was a great opportunity to connect with other organizations and businesses near the village site to put be a part of a larger event than we would have been able to do on our own. They were planning for 400 people but had 1000 people come through that evening. Leon was able to set up an information table for the village project and we were able to make contact with several potential future volunteers. We also had a woman come by our information table looking for housing to get out of a difficult living situation. Even though we do not have our tiny houses built yet we were able to connect her with a worker at the church who helped her connect we community agencies to provide further assistance.

Another new partnership is developing with teachers at the school where Elaina attends. Every teacher leads 6-week Passion Projects for students to participate in as part of their education. A teacher we knew from a previous school that now works there has a passion for addressing issues like homelessness and contacted me about possible projects for Circle City Village. This partnership has opened up to an opportunity to speak with one of his classes about the challenges facing our friends experiencing homelessness. The teacher is also planning a project in the spring for students to build garden boxes for our community garden at the village site.

Experiences like this show how even smaller faith communities can be a part of sewing shalom in their city if they are willing to get out of their silos and look for ways to creatively partner with others. Pray that God will continue to help us build the type of partnerships that will help build His Kingdom in Indianapolis.

Learning to Pivot

Learning to pivot has become a popular phrase in business and leadership circles over the past few years with the constantly changing dynamics brought on in our world by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is used to describe times when we need to make sudden changes in direction based on the changing situation we find ourselves in. Those of us seeking to lead missional faith communities need to learn a similar skill as we continue to live out the mission of Jesus in the context where He has brought us.

Even though many COVID-19 restrictions on gathered meetings have been lifted, we continue to make adjustments to how we serve those who have connected with Diakonos through an ever-changing landscape. Health challenges and schedule changes have made it more difficult to sustain a regular weekly gathering with our core members. Construction at one of the apartment buildings we serve has reduced our ability to use the community room where we used to have a cafe and community dinner. Our organic approach to ministry, though, helps us to pivot and still be faithful to bring the life of Jesus to those with whom we have built the strongest connections.

For the past few months, Leon has been creating a weekly video devotional to continue our discipleship series for our core members. We then meet with our key contacts one-on-one throughout the week to help them watch the video and discuss the topic of the video. This ministry can happen while visiting someone in a physical rehab hospital, at a coffee shop, or at their apartment. To maintain relationships between people we still host a monthly get-together for those who are able to join us. The key is to be faithful in mentoring those who have been most faithful with us and equipping them to share Christ with the people in their sphere of influence. In this way, we have the opportunity to touch more people than if we focused on our mission only when we could get everyone into the same room.

Pray that God will continue to give us the wisdom to adapt to the changing circumstances and faithfully live out the instructions Paul gave Timothy: "the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." - 2 Timothy 2:2

Support Our Ministry
If you would like to invest in this ministry on a regular basis or through a special offering, you can either mail donations to the address below or click the "Give Now" button to give online.

Mail all tax-deductible donations to (New Adress):
Communitas International
PO Box 60543
Industry, CA 91716-0543

Make checks payable to Communitas International and write Longard - 41273 in the memo.

*Please note that this fund is for our personal missionary budget and not directly related to Circle City Village, although our missionary budget helps us be available to lead projects like this. If you wish to make a donation directly to Circle City Village, you can find more information about this on the village website.