Saturday, July 14, 2007

Starting a House Church

i’ve forgotten how amazing the church really is.  by church, i mean the body of Christians around the world, not just the lutheran church down the street.  during the end of my last school year, i was given the opportunity to lead a house church in the calvin college neighborhood for the mars hill church.  i wasn’t the only leader, some of my friends also volunteered.  however, i was the only one in grand rapids for the summer, so i was responsible for taking on the first phase - starting the house church.

after a bunch of emails and talking to some of my friends who went to mars hill, the calvin house church had its first meeting in mid-june.  now, we’re meeting at least once a week, either to have a bible study or to volunteer and help needy people.  just hanging out with like-minded people has been amazing, and every sunday i look forward to going to the mars hill evening service with them.  people were truly meant for community, and i’m glad i can share life with my brothers and sisters in christ.

just last friday, i had an awesome experience with my house church.  we had volunteered to do yard work for a mars hill family who just had triplets.  they had sent an email out through the mars hill neighborhood network, requesting help because they had recently discovered that they were having triplets.  on july 3rd, the triplets were born (just one day before my birthday), and now the real work begins.  we went to their house on friday to mow, weed, and edge their lawn (pretty simple tasks).  it was me and 3 other guys, one of which owned a lawn care company in high school.  we brought our own equipment, thanks to our lawn care professional, and headed out after work.  after arriving, we met the dad and mom, who were calvin graduates in 2000, and then got right to work.  within an hour, their yard looked much better.  it wasn’t even much work; some of us brought drinks and snacks.  it just felt like a productive vacation.  needless to say, it was one of the best friday evenings i’ve had in a long time.

i’m so glad i have like-minded friends to volunteer with.  even the most routine task is so much more fun with friends around.  in one hour, we had fun, hung out, and alleviated some stress from a tired family.  i can’t wait for next week.

oh, and that’s just one day.  wait till you hear about the other days of the week!

Posted by Nehe555 on 07/14 at 08:27 PM
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