Written by Andy Goebel, pastor of St. Johns Covenant Church
When Adam Phillips, project consultant for CKC, first talked to me about having a Hope Sunday here at St. Johns Covenant Church, I have to admit I was hesitant. After all, our church is brand new (we’ve only been meeting weekly since Easter), quite small (we only average about 40 people on a Sunday), and made up of a lot of young families with limited financial resources. I didn’t think we would be able to garner a lot of sponsorships from our little congregation.
I was thrilled to discover how much I had underestimated our people. Adam came and preached a challenging message, followed by a call to help Covenant Kids Congo provide for 10,000 children in the DR Congo. Our church responded, scooping up sponsorship kits and committing as individuals, families, and small groups to improve the lives of children in the most desperate part of the world.
Our church’s mission statement comes from Micah 6:8, where we are required by God to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.” Hence, compassion, mercy, and justice are a part of our DNA here at St. Johns Covenant. We’ve been a part of living this out in the St. Johns community since our inception, so hosting a Hope Sunday made sense in terms of our mission, despite my initial hesitation.
The bonus? It was a reminder that the Kingdom of God in which we are required to live out Micah 6:8 is much bigger than our little corner of North Portland.
As church plants, we can easily become self-focused. We begin to worry about numerical growth and financial stability, instead of remembering our mission and our call to be a part of God’s kingdom coming and God’s will being done throughout the earth, as it is in heaven. Our church being a part of Hope Sunday was an easy and exciting way to expand our vision and rekindle that Kingdom fire on a global level.
I’m really glad I didn’t yield to my hesitation.
[You can read more about St. John’s Hope Sunday here: http://blogs.covchurch.org/covenantkidscongo/kingdom-in-north-portland/]
