What a whirlwind we have been on these last few weeks. There have been a lot of people coming through to discuss where Nieu Communities could be going in the future as well as helping our team steward the rest of this year well. I feel like we’ve neglected the blog some as a result though, so I apologize for those who look for notes from us more frequently. This entry is about something that took place at our home last Saturday (June 22).
A while back, I asked all of our apprentices if they would be interested in working with me to take what we are learning in our context and help translate it into a local church setting for my friends at 3rd Place. It has been a remarkable success at the church, and one of our apprentices, Chris, has played a major role in that with me. This past Saturday, we invited the leadership team of 3rd Place to our house for a day long retreat. The idea was to give the team space to process a new chapter that is coming in their life as a congregation. They will be moving into a new space sometime by the end of July/early August, so we felt it would be appropriate to help them remember where God has taken them and where He will take them into their future.
Something stuck out to me on that day. There is something quite powerful about remembering our past. For many of us though, that’s often a painful process. But in remembering what has been, pain and all, we remember how God has worked out His plans in our midst. Case in point…
One of the exercises we did with the team was to have them draw out their own individual timeline and share it with some others in the group. What I saw in every story I heard was pain from the past that Jesus redeemed. Those are remarkable points in our journeys. They help shape our character and our perceptions of the world. I’m starting to learn that in sharing my story with others, and hearing theirs as well, I am reminded of how faithful God is to reconcile all things to himself.
amahoro (peace; shalom)
btw… Natalie went to the clinic today for her first appointment. I’m going to get her blogging about this experience… it’s going to be such a cool thing to watch unfold.
