Around Our Network / June 18, 2014

Dear friends,

This note is about how God has been moving in our Network. It doesn’t include all of the things that are happening, but hopefully it is a good compilation. Read it like a newspaper.

What’s been happening in the Network? June 18, 2014

We worshiped God and made new friends at our PMs

At Broad & Washington -- Our very inventive team led us in the first evening of our season of “Second Acts.” Steve Falkowski worked around our internet issues. Mike Furfari stepped in to the art director’s role with some creative stuff. Most of all, the room felt alive with the Spirit. Listen to BW’s public meeting here.

At Frankford & Norris -- We began using the Psalms and Circle of Hope “proverbs” to frame our new season’s call to discipleship. The holiday, summer tour, and other plans made room for Dan Snook, our PM Coordinator, to call together a unique team to lead music alongside Vanessa’s creative rendering of Psalm 27. We prayed for 4,000 foster youth in Philadelphia, including Ashley, Alyssa, Vincent, Clarissa, Dylan, Sam, Mya, Alyssa, Loius, Kierra, and S’mirrior (suggested by our social workers). Listen to FN’s public meeting here.

At Marlton & Crescent -- Our network’s teaching pastor, Gwen White, helped us sit with our boredom and find the blessing in it. Her encouragement was to embrace it so that connection with the Truth of Jesus can be found. What a blessing she is!

At Broad & Dauphin -- We started our new series all about the transnational body! It was all about Eastern Europe and Northern Asia; it was fun to try to speak in the emotive language of Russian. Naomi Sonne led us well, and so did Sarah Good. We also strived to answer the question: Do I have to tell people about Jesus? (Find the summary here.) Listen to BD’s public meeting here.

We were trained on how to Love with Purpose

One of our pastors, Rachel Sensenig, lead the Monthly Cell Leader Training at Frankford and Norris on Saturday. We talked about intentionality in relationship-making. Our strategies for authentically including the next people are Spirit-filled and important. It’s really fun to be on mission together!

Our Imaginarium focused on being agents of transformation and our Leadership Team met

On Monday, we gathered at Marlton and Crescent for our version of the “rolling Council meeting.” We pondered the question, “Are we agents of transformation?” and generated some ideas about movement into deeper transformation. Following our time of imagination, the three Core Teams (Compassion, Capacity, Church Planting) and the Coordinators all met. At the end of the night, we all joined together to pray for each other and our transforming mission.

We started praying with voices from the Middle East and Northern Africa @ Circle of Hope Daily Prayer

In honor of Pentecost and the movement started in that one room in Jerusalem, we are remembering all of the places that the Spirit has moved across the world. Look forward to hearing from voices both past and present on our blog: cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com.

St. Anthony’s voice was particularly inspiring:

“I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.’”

The Broad and Washington Monthly Game Night traveled to Marlton and Crescent

A scheduling conflict at Broad and Washington turned into a missional opportunity. The regular BW gaming crowd showed up at MC and more people got in on the fun and friend-making. Eric Bursky hosted the last-minute event and I hear he was putting pictures on social media well past midnight!

Our blogs were great places of sharing and thinking...

Did you see Rod’s post about Don’t take my coffee away, Jesus! Pondering our addictions is a good place to start thinking about justice. Jonny got us thinking about the U.S.’s new interest in Iraq (new war, meet the old war) and pondered whether or not Christians were straining out gnats, and swallowing camels.

The The Way of Jesus website received more upgrades.

It is an organic trip from the start of faith to the finish using the oldest metaphor on the planet: earth, wind, fire, and water. We have begun to collect resources for every era of the journey. The site gets more complete and useful all the time.

Aaron Foltz is the new manager at Circle Thrift Broad

Aaron (who has an MTS from Palmer) is charged with not only making the store work, but making the mission work. He is hired for extra time than our managers usually get in order to figure out how the store helps us plant churches.

Around Our Network / June 11, 2014

Dear friends,

This note is about how God has been moving in our Network. It doesn’t include all of the things that are happening, but hopefully it is a good compilation. Read it like a newspaper.

What’s happening in the Network? June 11, 2014

 

• We heard how people were filled with the Spirit in our Pentecost PMs

It was Pentecost this Sunday! Our congregations were on fire! The Spirit has descended and we were celebrating the church’s birthday. We creatively worshiped God at our public meetings.

At Broad & Washington -- Everything looks happy with the rainbow tongues of fire descending. Rod, Sarah, and the team sang to us and we sang back. Lots of sharing and fire. Listen to BW’s public meeting here.

At Frankford & Norris -- Elements of Mariko’s talk were evident throughout our meeting: unity was expressed through diversity; the message was clear about the wonders of God; it was an efficient work of our living temple; and it was wild and risky with love at the center. The highlight was the kids leading us in a creative action under their glittery tongues of fire installation! Listen to FN’s public meeting here.

At Marlton & Crescent -- Scott gave us a Pentecost shock when he did the entire welcome in Japanese. He helped us wrestle with the unfamiliar, and as we sang, we prayed through the words we gave and the words we received. We finished out the book of Colossians in step with Acts 2 as we pondered prayer, action, and openness (all Pentecost themes)!

At Broad & Dauphin -- Beth led us to light candles together, Jonny helped us consider the six streams of faith that have influenced us throughout the ages. Megan led us to sing the Newsboys, circa 2006, and she sounded way better than Peter Furler! Listen to BD’s public meeting here.

• The love of Circle of Hope spilled onto Frankford Ave when we celebrated Circle Thrift

The party last Friday on Frankford Ave. was a great incarnation of the success and blessing that our network of thrift stores have enjoyed over the last decade. They have blessed people locally, and globally, as well as our Network. Thank God!

• Our Design Teams discerned the languages that our region understands

Last Monday, our Design Team leaders were trained about languages that our region speaks. We want to lead people to worship God in a way they understand. This is a direct response to one of the goals we have for our Map this year. Nearly 40 of us gathered at Frankford & Norris for a very stimulating time.

• We started praying with voices from Europe and Northern Asia @ Circle of Hope Daily Prayer

In honor of Pentecost and the movement started in that one room in Jerusalem, we are remembering all of the places that the Spirit has moved across the world. Look forward to hearing from voices both past and present on our blog: cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com. This week is all about Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.

• Philly gathered at PrideDay, and so did we

Ben, Anthony, and Michael had a table at the PhillyPride event at Penn’s landing. We just want to be where Philly gathers. Our love and hope are felt just by our presence. Contact Ben White to find out where the Circle of Hope Summer Tour stops next.

• BD folks asked and learned about Circle of Hope

Some people interested in connecting to BD gathered in north Brewerytown for dinner and a dialogue session about Circle of Hope. The pastors sometimes host congregational times that are specifically intended to help people learn about our Network.

• Several of our pastors challenged us to be the media:

From Rod’s blog: Someone said, “Why don’t we just desert [Facebook] and stop using the medium and focus on being the medium? We already have a great communication system. It is called living in community. Let’s focus on being the media, not on conforming to some other rubric. Let’s be face to face, not Facebook.”

From Jonny’s blog: I’ll admit, it took me about a day to think about getting off social media, but I’ve decided to be the media instead of bend my knee to it. For the summer I’m going to stop posting on Facebook, stop Tweeting (and receiving push notifications every time Seinfeld tweets), and stop taking pictures of the food I’m making and posting them to Instagram.

From Nate’s weekly email to cell leaders: What social media like Facebook really does to me is that it draws me into an endless loop of meaningless information without my conscious realization. I consume it, I like it, I have my say... but I don't create anything. When I get to that place, I move from being proactive to being reactive. And I think I'm far more reactive these days than I am proactive. I realized that I'd rather create. I realized that I'd rather take you out for coffee than like your status (being face to face is far a better use of my time than being in front of a screen). I realized that I'd rather pray than check my device to see if anyone liked me enough today.

• And while you’re over at the blogs…

Did you see Rod’s post about his embarrassment of riches? Or Jonny’s about the best scene he’s seen on TV all year? The two of them also riffed on the trending Al Jazeera article about hipster gentrification and the new Amtrak mural. Jonny said he’s not waiting for economic justice. Rod wrote, “The hipsters I know are much more likely to be a good neighbor than Amtrak.”

Shalom House Film Series

On Tuesday May 27th, Shalom House presented the second film in our Israeli/Palestinian Film Series, "Little Town of Bethlehem" (2010). 'Little Town of Bethlehem" is a documentary featuring how Israelis, Palestinians, Israeli Defense Force members, civilians, Jews, Muslims and Christians are using non-violent resistance to oppose the occupation of Palestine in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Over 25 people came to the screening and film discussion. Shalom House will be showing a new film in the series every last Tuesday of the month through September at 7PM at Frankford & Norris. The June film is "Budrus," a documentary about how one small Palestinian town used non-violent resistance to oppose the building of the Separation Wall through their town and their ancestral olive tree groves.

Career Day at G.W. Childs School

This past week, Circle of Hope's compassion team, For the Love of Childs, organized several Circle of Hopers to volunteer on Career Day at G.W. Childs School. Megan Rosenbach, the team’s leader, spoke to 4th and 7th graders about working at a non-profit organization that is helping to make Philadelphia a more bike friendly city. Nic Justice talked to a 5th grade class about film making. And LeeAnn Wood got some of her co-workers from Urban Outfitters to speak to the kids about careers in fashion. Ben White (Circle of Hope’s Development Pastor) and Anthony So, a computer/web programmer, were also present at the event. Several other members of the neighborhood group that the compassion team started, Neighbors Investing in Childs Elementary (NICE), also spoke with students about their careers throughout the day! It was a terrific opportunity to inspire children with ideas and dreams of the future.

For more information, visit our compassion teams blog for how to get involved.

A Lenten Story

A Lenten story from one of our Circle of Hopers:

I don't remember last Easter. Most Easters of my adulthood have been spent studying for finals, so we could assume that's what I was doing. Perhaps I was a little more aware and involved this year, as I at least knew Lent was on the horizon. As giving up something seemed weird and overwhelming, I fell into the phrase: "just participate." It seemed like a good enough stretch, a focus that wouldn't stress me out too much; plus, I had never really participated in Lent before, so it was new. What followed in the next six weeks ended up being nothing short of overwhelming and life-changing. As I walked with Jesus in the wilderness, I identified my own wilderness: a combination of sorrow and grief from traumatic losses in the past year, the loneliness and social isolation that are natural products of my medical education, and the feeling of being busy all of the time as I tried to balance school, church, and long distance relationships with family and friends. If the run-on sentence didn't clue you in, my wilderness felt vast, overwhelming, and unchangeable. But Jesus was meeting me in that wilderness that I was now aware of, as I read the daily prayer before getting out of bed each morning, and as I walked home in the dark after (an equally dark) PM and cell.

In the middle of Lent, I felt a transformation. In the course of one week I went to the PM, went to cell, had a breakfast meeting with my cell leader Aaron, and went to a cell coordinating group meeting. It wasn't until I was sitting in that last meeting that I realized the change. I hadn't given any of these "time commitments" a second thought. There was no juggling, no added stress, no debating whether or not I should go, and absolutely no fear that I was sacrificing valuable study time. Gwen White said during the women's meeting (which also happened about this same time) that her litmus test for knowing if something was from God or if she was making it up was whether or not she was surprised. Well, I was certainly surprised. My survival mode, the paradigm that I thought was necessary to "do my life right now" was shattered. I was elated by the freedom God had given me, a freedom I hadn't asked for and didn't think I needed. I continued to walk with Jesus and participate, praising him as King, as they did when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And then I was with Him as Holy Week went on, participating in his frustration and despair, trying to further understand his relationship with his disciples while I was sharing a meal with other Jesus followers. Perhaps my participation some 2000 years later helped me understand some of the feelings Jesus had too.

I knew what was coming. As transformed as I felt, and happy to be following Jesus, I knew what it meant to "participate" on Friday. And as enriching as it was to dine with Jesus, witnessed in the faces of my church family on Thursday, Friday I had to walk with Him as he suffered and bled, carrying the cross that he would then be nailed to. I didn't really want to do it, but I walked the stations of the cross. As I felt self-conscious praying on the street corner and strange men said weird things to me as I passed by, I felt humiliated, stupid, and I wanted to turn back. But I continued, determined to finish, to witness the sacrifice and love of the One who had transformed my life, had made me new, and who was now dying for all of mankind, slowly and painfully. This year of my life has made me familiar with death and mourning, and as I participated in Jesus' death and the mourning of those close to him, the raw sorrow of grief and loss was renewed within me. Then Saturday was quiet. There was nothing to do except my normal stuff, and I thought, "What now?" I had been following Jesus, walking with him, witnessing His love. But now he was dead. The day had a new silence—and I imagined how the disciples felt, the disappointment and despair, not to mention the fear of being tied to Jesus following yesterday's events. I was isolated—retreating into my wilderness because I didn't know what else to do.

Sunday morning I stumbled out of bed, my body confused by the darkness and lack of sleep. As I walked down Locust street to meet my ride to Lemon Hill (thanks Michiko!) I became a little incredulous. It was 5:30 am, a time of day I rarely acknowledge, and I was walking the empty streets of the city alone, listening to hymns on my phone in the darkness. This was crazy. My sleepy intellect quickly succumbed to what I felt in my heart: I was walking the steps of Mary Magdalene to the grave. Still shocked by grief, disoriented from lack of sleep, and feeling alone without Jesus there. On Lemon Hill, as the drums reverberated through my chilled body wrapped in a blanket, I saw the sun rise slowly, gloriously, and there in the midst of energetic children, stories of transformation, and cheerful greetings, Jesus was THERE. With us, resurrected, alive! He was among us—at brunch with friends and new people to meet, at the PM where there was dancing and singing and joy, with more stories of resurrection and transformation.

All I really did was show up. At the beginning it felt so passive, but then Jesus transformed my attendance into a meaningful journey, one that I am still walking now. All I really can say to that is, "Hallelujah! Christ is risen!"

Fundraiser in E-Town

The Compassion Core team hosted a fundraiser in Elizabethtown on March 29th. We are so grateful to the parents of Jonny Rashid (our pastor at Broad and Dauphin) who opened up their restaurant for the event. The Compassion Core Team has a mailing list of about 700 people and over half of the addresses are within 60 miles of Elizabethtown, making it a great location to host this event! The team, as well as some Circle of Hope members who have been impacted by our compassion teams, were joined by about 25 people from across central Pennsylvania.

The evening was full of good conversation, story telling, and delicious food. Rachel Sensenig spoke about her personal transformation through Circle Counseling, Matt Tice talked about the freedom he experienced through the Debt Annihilation Team, Sara Semborski talked about Shalom House’s peacemaking efforts, Mary Bucher declared the genius of sharing Kids and Baby Goods with one another and our neighbors, and Megan Rosenbach shared the success of revitalizing the library at Childs School.

Through the event we raised just about $1500, received $500 worth of pledges for this year, and started relationships with people who want to help us raise more money. The compassion core’s fundraising goal in 2014 is $8500, but we would love to raise more! The money is used to help compassion teams fulfill their call from Jesus to love the world in very tangible ways.

For more information about our compassion teams visit here or go to the compassion team blog.

A Benefit for Mission Year

Last Thursday, Ra Mendoza led a benefit for Mission Year at Broad & Washington with a big turn-out. Circle of Hope, The Simple Way, and Eastern University came together to celebrate what God is doing in Philly and raise money for Mission Year—a Jesus-centered program that encourages young people to come to the city for at least a year to live communally, work for justice, and love their neighbors.

Local artists B-Wise and Atiba Halisi shared their musical gifts and Malia Walden shared poetry. Rachel Sensenig, Nes Espinoza, and Shane Claiborne gave messages about the state of Philly right now, the invitation to die and rise with Jesus, the joy of bearing one another’s burdens and the call to demonstrate justice. Pastor Leonard Dow prayed that whether we are prophets, priests, poets, or practitioners—or all of the above—we’d reflect the great love of God who fills us.