MLK Day of Service at Circle Thrift

On Monday, more than 30 people came out to Circle Thrift Broad to do some serious cleaning, organizing, and repairing. It was an ant farm of activity. There were children, teenagers, and adults of all ages and from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, some of who grew up in Philadelphia and others who were transplants. There were volunteers who had connected to the thrift store through our various Circle of Hope congregations, as well as many new faces who had discovered the event on the MLK365 website.

This holiday, we were making one small attempt, around our city, to channel MLK as he once channeled the work of Jesus. It was a busy group that hopefully looked a lot like the beloved community that Dr. King described in his speeches and writings. It was a beautiful expression of how it is when brothers and sisters, following in the way of Jesus, live together in unity and work for the better good (Psalm 133). Not to mention all the fun that was had. Pizza Brain, a local business owned and operated by Circle of Hope partners, even donated pizza for the lunch pizza party (pictured above).

To shop, donate, or volunteer at Circle Thrift Broad, visit circlethrift.com or stop by the store. We also have a store located in the Fishtown/East Kensington area. More information can be found at the website.

Let's Talk About Growing

Is Your Cell Too Small?

We are a cell church. Our hope is that circles of 10 (we say 7-12) spread out all over the region to extend the Kingdom of God in relational ways. In Matthew 13, Jesus says: “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Our cells are like mustard seeds… pervasively (even invasively) spreading. On Saturday, at our monthly cell leader training we asked the question, “Is Your Cell Too Small?” The only concrete answer we came up with was, “If your cell has less than 3 people in it, then yes.” Beyond that, there are a lot of factors that have to be discerned in order to answer the question.

At their hearts, cells are about connection and connecting. They are about connection to each other and about connection to Jesus. And…they are about connecting other people to Circle of Hope and connecting other people to Jesus. Each cell has connection going on (for example there are 45 relationships simultaneously occurring in a cell of 10!). Each cell also has the potential for connecting the next person. Every person in a cell can prospectively connect someone else (most of us know more than one other person!). When we ask, “Is your cell too small?” the real question might be, “How seriously does a cell take Jesus’ Kingdom expansion call?” A cell of 8 might be too small if they’re not interested in expanding the Kingdom, while a cell of 3 might be just fine (for a time being) if they have the passion and perspective of Kingdom expansion.

We’re always working it out, of course. One thing we want to do in 2014 is grow. We’re honestly evaluating our cells to see how to do that well. Pray for us and with us! -Nate Hulfish

Find a recording of the talk here.

New Circle of Hope Album, "Patiently Impatient"

 















The Circle of Hope Audio Arts Team has just released their second album! Read about it from their press release here below:

We excitedly announce the release of our second album, Patiently Impatient! Circle of Hope Audio Art brought together over 50 musicians and a dozen songwriters from all four Circle of Hope congregations to offer this collection of 17 original and transcultural worship songs plus two spoken word reflections.

We hope it is useful for our worship leaders - to learn the songs and how to lead them. We hope it builds up the Body of Christ - as a tool for personal worship, a soundtrack for your commute, and something that fosters a sense of gratitude for all the creativity God has given us. We hope it helps get Jesus (and Circle of Hope) into new places - sharing the music via your social networks can help people know more about what Jesus is about and what the Spirit is doing.

Even though many of the concepts of the album explore the tension of the already/not yet Kingdom Coming, we waited until after Advent was over to respect the spiritual longing for Jesus. Now that we’ve celebrated his birth, let’s celebrate the gifts!

You can stream or download Patiently Impatient and our first release Resist & Restore: Spring 2013 on every music website we could think of.

We recommend you go to http://circleofhopeaudioart.bandcamp.com/ so you can make a tax deductable donation of your choosing to further the work of the team and get the .pdf with extensive liner notes. We have hard copy cds and booklets of the first record at every Public Meeting site, we hope to do likewise with Patiently Impatient in the next month.

Please let us know if you have any questions.
Enjoy!

http://circleofhopeaudioart.bandcamp.com/album/patiently-impatient

http://facebook.com/CoHaudioart
circleofhopeaudioart@gmail.com