Here are three things that have learned in the last month:
First, God is still moving in this community. In "The Message," a paraphrase of the Bible, Eugene Peterson writes for John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." Jesus is present in this neighborhood. He is bringing hope and love, joy and peace into this community. We saw it this year at Community Day. For the first time, the majority of people who attended were not from the church or related to or friends with church people. There were numerous people from the community and families from Ridglea who came to the church for the fireworks, petting zoo and pony rides. As we watched their faces, we could see that Jesus used this opportunity to spread joy and happiness, love and peace in the families who spent the evening at the church. Jesus is drawing people to himself through PBC - He is active in this community! It is our job to partner with Him and come along side of Him as he draws all people and families unto Himself!
Second, the relationships between this church and the community is steadily increasing. Do you remember what it was like four years ago when we first started doing the Community Days? We started with what was called a community picnic, but it was more like a church picnic, because only church folk and their friends attended. The next year, we decided it would be a good idea to have a parade through the community as part of our festivities, and host the picnic in the community. We ended up getting a bunch of crazy looks and hesitant stares from the community during the parade, and ended up hosting the community day at the church because the community was not receptive to our offer. Now, years and many outreaches and community connections later, the atmosphere has dramatically changed. You should have been with us as we passed out invitations to community day in Ridglea a couple of weeks ago. The majority of people in the community were not just cordial to us, but were warm and welcoming in receiving the invitation from us. In this age and culture, there is a great divide between the church and community. In this culture, many, many people rarely notice a church in their community or when they go driving by. But God is changing that here at PBC. The divide between church and community is growing smaller.
Third, God takes small things and does something wonderful with them. In the grand reality of things, Community Day was a success because of no great thing. It was just a group of about 25 people who each contributed their small part to the day that made everything come together. The result was that over 200 people in this community went to sleep on that night smiling about fireworks and pony rides and petting zoos. When God combines the small gifts that each one of us gives into one big gift to the community, wonderful things happen. It reminds me of when Jesus talks about having faith like a mustard seed - just a small kernel of a seed that God takes and makes into something big and beautiful.
I pray that we would continue to learn of God’s presence and movement in this community as we faithfully share God’s love in Pughtown, Spring City and Pottstown, and to the ends of the earth.
Pastor Tim,
Update October 17, 2007.
