Author: Believers Church

March 25, 2018 Believers Church

Hey Guys

You are listening to Street Level Radio Cebu City. Jason, Faye, Jesse, & Chelsey came to install Street Level Radio at two locations in Cebu!

For those of you familiar you can walk down the street from Print Specifix to Elicon House listening to Street Level Radio on your phone! To end the semester, we streamed Street Level Radio and had a game night on our last Friday in Cebu.

Feb Philippines team
February Team: Brittany, Jesse, Chelsey, Faye, Jason, & Laura

God has and will continue to do great things here. As I sit and ponder the last few months they have been both exciting and challenging! Challenging because no one has done this before or is doing it. We are charting the waters and figuring out what works and doesn’t work at the same time. It is exciting because part of learning is always changing and improving things to make them better. Another challenging and sometimes exciting part is realizing there is no one to compare notes with. There’s no one to ask how to handle it or how it should work, etc.

Missions = People

We are back for a short visit and as I take time to reflect on all that God has done this past year. I think about His work with Street Level (Bible Study, WOTS, Radio), the Day Retreat, and Science/Creation Lessons. I am reminded (AGAIN) it is about the people and not the tasks at hand. At the Day Retreat in February we were asked what our five beans were. For example, what are five things has God gifted you with? As many of you know I like to bake, work with kids, write & draw, which God allows me to do here in Cebu.

Pondering

class room
Last Science Lesson at Southern Bethany

The school year ended in March so I said “good bye” to one class while the team was in Cebu. As I ate dinner that night I couldn’t help but think about how very different my life could have been. None of this was my plan…. I graduated from Stout with an Early Childhood degree. The plan was to teach in the school I grew up in but God had other plans.

 

 

It has truly been amazing to see all that God has allowed us to be a part of this last year from teaching in schools to Word on the Street to continuing SLM Cebu Dinners & Bible Studies.

team people
Brittany, Yvea, Dyreen, Orchids, & Laura

Before we came back to the states for a short visit last April, Orchids came over and we baked. A month ago we sat at Jollibee and shared earbuds as we watched the Day Retreat videos. We got together one last time before I returned to America and had an opportunity to talk  about ministry and life. We have continued to meet new people and get to know others more as the months have gone on and I am reminded that to have a good friend you have to be a good friend! Life here is a bit different…there are no random “Hi, want to grab dinner?” texts or “Who wants to get fish on Friday?” As we return to Cebu in April, we want to be intentional about asking people to have dinner or grab coffee! Britt and Yvea have been taking Saturday mornings to read through “They Were Single Too.” Orchids and I just started The “Lost Art of Disciple Making.” We look forward to continuing this!

Moving forward, it will be summer vacation when we return to Cebu BUT we are preparing to hit the ground running and continue ministering during that time!

As always, we appreciate your prayers, emails, and messages! 🙂

–Laura

March 22, 2018 Believers Church

Have you ever felt like you have lost touch with God? Distance. Like somewhere along the way, through sin or life distractions, you’ve felt distant from Him or even that He’s angry with you (or you with Him), when you used to be a pretty joyful and consistent Christian at one time? You are not alone.

DesiringGod received a letter from a woman who was feeling that disconnect from God and it concerned her deeply. In a recent episode of Ask Pastor John, John Piper seeks to help her see how God might actually be working to strengthen her in this season…

Click here to read or listen to his response.

Ask Pastor John distance

March 19, 2018 Believers Church

Second Semester

Since our last report, we’ve begun the new Spring 2018 semester with Street Level. We’ve been pleased to see many of the students back. We’ve also had several new visitors who have come to see who we are. We never know who may come to visit on any given week, so we plan accordingly and are oftentimes surprised. It’s an incrementally slow, but noticeable increase in overall consistency and stability within the ministry. If we don’t stop to consider it, it’s easy to not even notice. We are thankful for God’s continued presence and leading along the journey.

Changes

We’ve made a few logistical changes. We are doing a meal every Tuesday proceeding the Street Level meeting (Meal 6:30pm, Bible study 7pm). This has been good for the conversational aspect as we seek to build relationships within the group. It’s also been a doorway of opportunity for getting people involved. Each week, we take on volunteer to come in early the following week to help with setting up and serving the meal.

Involvement such as this has been a focus for us during the last few months. Aside from the meal assistance, we have opened up a few poster routes. These are done on a first-come first served basis. The stipulation is that the route must be done as a pair, and at least one person must have had done it before. We’ve also, for the first time, had a few of the students do a table on campus for Street Level without direct assistance. Finally, we opened up the opportunity to “shadow” on the most recent issue of Word on the Street Magazine. One of the students who has been very participatory has chosen to step up and to write for our River Falls edition, this is also a first for us.

Sunday Study

Our Sunday JFBelievers meetings continue at 5pm each week. We’ve ended our study of the Gospel of Matthew, and are now turning to the Epistle Letters. The goal is to cover one chapter each week, which keeps us moving through the material fairly quickly, addressing the big topics of Scripture. We are currently in letters of 1/2/3 John. We split an hour right down the middle: 30 minutes of teaching and 30 minutes of discussion. The discussions are have been helpful in getting the group to grasp the meaning of the text and encourage each other to respond in practical ways.

As we reflect with gratitude on what God has done and is doing, we look forward to what the coming months will bring, and are prayerfully considering what God would lead us into next.

 

chilling out in Street Level HQ

a table on campus

bible studystudy timeputting wots together

March 16, 2018 Believers Church

Who is Kindred?

Kindred is defined as one’s family and relations, similar in kind, related.  That is what we seek to be as the Kindred Adults group at JF Believers Church.  We are a growing group of more than twenty five single adults who are looking beyond our singleness, to the family we have been given in the church.  We all have spiritual brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers all within the household of God.  As scripture states, “encourage older men as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity” (1 Tim 5:1).  And we all have a role to play in the family of God.  Titus teaches the character that accords with sound doctrine in these various roles, including being self-controlled, steadfast, reverent in behavior, not slanderers, pure, kind, and so on (Titus 2).  As our group grows in number, we also seek to grow in the character that accords with sound doctrine.  None of us have arrived and all of us have room to grow.  And growing up in the family is our aim as the Kindred Adults at JFBelievers.christmas lights

What We’ve Been Doing

Last December, we held a Kindred Retreat at Luther Park in Chetek.  We read various portions of the book “They Were Single Too”, written by a single pastor in his 40’s.  For some sessions we split into small groups with multiple men’s and women’s groups .  This created great discussion, both in small groups and in the large group, where we reflecting on how various single characters in the bible could be examples for us, including Paul, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Martha, Anna, and others.  Also, we were able to share from our own experiences of being single either our entire life, or since being widowed, or in the midst of being divorce or separated.  We even got to Skype in with Laura, a single missionary, for a couple sessions from the Philippines.  We were truly blessed throughout the weekend.

retreatmore retreat

Weekly Gathering

We’ve also really been focused on getting together on Sunday afternoons to pray for each other and recap the Sunday Sermons from JF Believers.  We break into small groups with our notes and questions at least twice a month.  This is a priority for our group and will be a main stay going forward.  One of the problems with those of us who have been Christians for a long time is that we can easily slip into going through the motions.  By asking each other pointed questions and sharing how the scriptures are practically affecting our lives, we hope to mitigate that trap.

Learning

Our Kindred members group is also going through a book called “Discipling” by Mark Dever.  We do this over pizza in the community on Friday nights once a month.  Its there we get to talk about how we are being discipled, while we are discipling others.  We are answering questions like what is discipling? Where is it done?  How is it done?  We really look forward to these times and it provides a healthy challenge to us all.

Fellowship

Lastly, we like to simply enjoy each others company as brothers and sisters in fellowship.  On the first Sunday of the month we do something that is just for laughs and good times.  In February we hosted a Super Bowl Party with all the typical tail gate goodies.  In March we took over the Coffeehouse and played board games.  We also look forward to these times going forward and can’t wait to get out into the spring weather.

game time

All of these activities are designed to promote a healthy family.  We want Kindred to not just be our title, but our description as we come together in the household of God.  Please pray for us as we continue to grow as spiritual brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers with you all at JFBelievers church.

March 13, 2018 Believers Church

Duluth Update

2018 is well under way in Duluth and is not slowing down at all.  It has been an exciting start to a new year as we have continued to see visitors coming to check out the Sunday service. We have been seeing 30+ people on Sundays.  We know it’s not about numbers. However, it sure is encouraging to see God bringing people our way and to see some growth in our church.  We have even had eight kids in the children’s ministry on some Sundays.  Speaking of exciting, we were also happy to pray for and send out Jesse and Chelsey as they join Jason and Faye in the Philippines. They’re going to set up some radio equipment to help get a radio station running overseas.  It’s good to remember what God is doing outside of our church and that we get to be part of it.

New

It was also just announced that we may be assembling a Duluth team to go down south this summer on a domestic mission trip.  It’s exciting to think we could be at a point where we could send out our own team.  Street Level is in full swing again after winter break. We have decided to make some huge changes like moving off campus.  We were meeting in a dorm common area for a meal before our study. This used to happen in the Yellow-jacket Union years before.  Now, we are meeting at Big Apple Bagel and will be having a meal and study at the same place in hopes that students may be interested in getting off campus and trying something new.  It seems the change has been good; a few new students have come to check it out.

wots assembly raven fed chill time ripping it out prayer

Football and Fellowship

We had a Super bowl party at the church equipped with plenty of “healthy food” and a retro halftime show.  Pastor Justin surprised us with streaming the 1992 Super bowl half time show held in the metrodome.  It was hilarious!  We also recently had a prayer breakfast/work day at the church, those tend to be some of my favorite events at the church, and it’s always fun to work together and see the building God has given us continually transform.  We were able to have separate men’s and women’s studies before we began working on various tech upgrades throughout the church as well as transforming the balcony into more than just storage.  We plan to use it as a work station and meeting area.  As our church grows, so does our need to put the space we have to good use.

Food on Wednesdays

We also started serving a Wednesday night meal prior to the study, which has been great for arriving early to eat and hang out with everyone.  Please continue to pray for us to grow into the people and the church God wants us to be. We are praying for you all as well.

• Pastor Justin is reading a book called “Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor” by D.A. Carson

• Sara is reading Tim Keller’s “Prayer”

• Pastor Jesse is reading “The Hole in our Holiness” by Kevin DeYoung

• And Chelsey is reading a book by Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth called “Adorned”

 

March 10, 2018 Believers Church

Did you grow up in a family?

I’ll bet you did. And even if your family wasn’t “ideal”, you survived it. My family wasn’t perfect, and neither was yours, but I’ll tell you one thing: Barring any major dysfunction, you didn’t run away from them, and they didn’t run away from you. There may be some exceptions here and there, but you probably didn’t flee in the middle of the night & move in with a different family, and you probably didn’t secure a legal name change to ensure your safety, and you probably didn’t drop all contact with your folks so you could forget all of the terrible things that happened and begin the process of “healing”. Most likely, you stuck it out, kept the name, and still hug mom & dad when you see them, even though they weren’t perfect. And they probably hug you back, even though you weren’t the easiest kid to raise. Even if it sometimes hurt, you still love your family, and they still love you.

Being the member of a family is a necessary part of the human experience. We’ve got so much to learn from living in close relation to others that God decided to make it inescapable. By His design each of us was thrust into our respective families from the very moment of our birth, without exception or permission. God has determined that good character would be forged through our close involvement with other people in less-than-perfect environments, all beginning in the one we call “home”. Running away on account of its problems only delays maturity and fortifies irresponsibility. There are crucial lessons to be learned during our time at home as children that are intended to be carried with us into the world as adults, lessons that won’t be learned by avoiding each other. It’s obvious that people need family.

Social Loyalty

One of the lessons we were meant to learn by being a part of a household was Social Loyalty. In other words, spending the first 18 years of your life with the same people in the same space was enough time to give rise to occasional tension, but with nowhere else to go, you learned to remain steadfast in the face of adversity. Or at least one would hope. You weren’t always given the option of giving up and going “somewhere better”. Being in a family helped you learn how to ignore the fantasy that imagines an easier life elsewhere. It trained you to control your impulse to abscond from relationships when they became problematic. And it required you to come home at the end of the day and stay there. It forced you to endure with the people who sometimes hurt you and made you realize that the ones who love you the most sometimes treat you the worst. Among other things, being part of a family helped you to see how relationships actually work behind the public curtain, and to remain faithful even when they disappoint.

“If you can survive family, you can survive church”

 

To put it another way, if you survived family, you can survive church. God was training you to grow up, move out, and become unflinchingly committed to a church, your church, long before you even knew it. You and I have been more than adequately prepared by God’s sovereign design, to survive the many rigors of church life regardless of the social pains and interpersonal conflicts that go with it. You’ve already proven yourself capable of doing this long before you ever came through our doors.

Commitment (or lack of)

This being true, why then do we see such a sickeningly weak commitment to the church? We all know that families come with baggage, right? Why then are we so shocked when we realize that churches have their own baggage?  Nobody lives under the silly illusion that there’s a flawless household out there somewhere, yet more and more people seem to be searching for the perfect church. They think that if they look hard enough, they’ll eventually find it, join it, and live happily ever after. But when they’re unable to find one, they get upset about it, divorce themselves from it, and live sadly ever after instead. Christians are giving up far too easily on the church. The neighborhoods of Duluth are crowded with spiritual runaways like these. And this blight isn’t unique to the Northland. It seems to be happening everywhere.

“A church without wounds is an easy sell in a world where words are cheap” -Paul Maxwell

What’s the issue?

I’m not sure what to do about it. Maybe there are some legitimate concerns. Maybe churches are doling out way more abuse than I’m aware of. But many of the runaways I meet are revoking their enrollment for suffering no greater injustice that the average Starbucks patron does…they felt slighted once or twice. Somebody cut in line and made them feel inferior. The barista didn’t treat them like a demigod. But wait, since when is coffee so much more important than fellowship is, that we’d tolerate inter-relational insults like these for the one but not the other? Maybe the problem isn’t so much the church’s treatment of its people, but its people’s perspective of the church. The simple truth is, some are expecting their church to provide them with the impossible: Insulation from everything, including each other. They want “real community” without the reality of community. They want “real relationships”, but not the reality of what a real relationship offers. With so many of God’s children moving along to the next church before they’ve even had a chance to establish themselves at the last one, God’s Kingdom is taking on a frightening resemblance to the foster care system.

Choice

Each of us has a choice, and it’s not necessarily a choice between a church that hurts us and a church that doesn’t, because the latter doesn’t exist. Your church will hurt you from time to time just like your family did. We could lie to you and tell you it won’t, but like one writer says, “A church without wounds is an easy sell in a world where words are cheap“. The real choice you have is whether you’ll remain loyal or not when you do get hurt…and it IS your choice. Rescinding on your commitment just because you feel injured simply opens you up to further injury, only by a new group of people at a different church. And if history repeats itself, you’ll leave them just like you did the last time it happened. Do you see where this goes?

Fact Remains

At any rate, I can promise you one thing: You will eventually get hurt here at this church. Every one of us will, not because we’ve failed to create a real, intimate family dynamic, but because we’ve actually succeeded in it. Being part of a family can be a painful thing, but you already know that, so don’t be surprised when you get bruised by the ones who love you, as though some strange thing were happening to you. We offer what every family does, which includes irritation, discomfort, embarrassment, and insult. Not much different from the things you’ve been dealing with since you were a baby. But being part of this church also means that we’re committed to caring for you. It means that when life deals you a blow, we’ll be there to help you shoulder it. And it means that you’ll live in community like God intended so that you won’t have to die alone like the devil would prefer. It means you’ll have the chance to forgive the sins of others while overcoming your own so that you can discover just how rewarding deep relationships like ours can be.

We might not offer you perfection, but neither do we expect you to be perfect. We will hurt you, but… you’ll also hurt us. People leave the church all the time and for various reasons, but the church never leaves her people. She hasn’t gone anywhere in 2,000 years, and she never will. If anyone is loyal, it’s her. The least we can do is return the favor.

Enjoy your stay.