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News > New and renewed communities, like spring, bring new life
New and renewed communities, like spring, bring new life
04-26-2010By Bishop Hee-Soo Jung
One of the things I enjoy about living in the Midwest is the amazing transformation offered to us through nature each spring. There are many April days when the sun is shining, the air is crisp and the daffodils, and forsythia and tulips begin to dot our gardens. The memories of gray skies, snow-covered walks and subzero temperatures melt away, giving way to the fresh new possibilities offered in God’s great creation. The new life of spring captures our imagination and gives us new energy and possibilities.
This spring, I have also been renewed by the stories of transformation and new life that are taking place across the Northern Illinois Conference. In March, one of our Harvest 2020 new faith communities launched its first worship service. Urban Village, a congregation centered in the growing West Loop and South Loop of Chicago is now meeting at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies on Michigan Avenue.
Rev. Trey Hall and Rev. Christian Coon have worked for more than nine months to create small groups, recruit leaders, promote their vision and design a unique worship service that would fit this mission field. Their first service drew a congregation of 135, with 180 taking part on Easter Sunday. Their video, which you can see on their website, http://www.new chicagochurch.com/, shows how a diverse group of college students, singles, young couples, and transplanted urban dwellers from the suburbs are drawn to this new community.
This April, Word of Life Fellowship, a satellite ministry of the Libertyville United Methodist Church, will launch their worship in Grayslake. Rev. Jim Bell and Rev. Jamie Geiger have shepherded this mission with the courage and vision of a congregation that sees beyond their own walls and knows their call is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Again, intentional groundwork has been laid within the community, reaching the unchurched with a message of invitation and hope. New life is breathed into our old bones as the work of spreading the gospel takes hold in our hearts.
On Easter Sunday, Faith United Methodist Church in Dolton re- launched their church after months of intentional leadership development. This Harvest 2020 site is unique: the village of Dolton had changed in demographics, and the congregation has been learning how to reach out to its neighborhood under the guidance of Rev. Junius Dotson who pastors St. Mark UMC in Wichita, Kansas. Rev. Dotson has experience leading congregations through this situation and has been traveling to Dolton on a monthly basis, bringing lay leadership with him. This team has offered new vision and training to the leadership of Faith UMC. Pastor Charles Straight has worked closely with Reverend Dotson, who has served as a mentor. Over the past several months, the church has grown steadily from 30 in worship to more than 100. On Easter morning, they counted more than 150 in attendance.
I encourage you all to continue to be in prayer for our new faith communities and all of our churches that are striving to bring new sprouts of life to a cold, barren world. This season of Easter, let us share the new life of Jesus Christ with all we meet.