A New Thing

     ​“19See, I am doing a new thing!
     Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

In this moment we are in the wilderness, but God is doing a new thing for us, of this much we can be certain. Since February we have been listening and praying for guidance for our community of believers. We have come to a vision of Bold Hospitality. In July, a letter was sent out from the church Executive Committee to all members of the congregation, both present and former. The letter was a moment to reminisce and to look to the future.

Our future lies in the vision of Bold Hospitality and the July letter explained that in the following way:

1. PHCC commits itself to seeking out one or more church or ethnic congregations to share our building with. Park Hill Christian Church is committed to being open to new possibilities and the continued movement of the Holy Spirit.
2. PHCC commits to expanding community events and outreach to extend Christian hospitality by serving more people outside of the church with community events.

On Thursday evening, August 20th the board met and approved our first steps toward this vision.

On August 30th, the Athens congregation will hold its first meeting in the Life Center.

This small church is a start-up of one of our Merry Moments families. God has moved in an amazing way bringing us together through the preschool. In the near future Athens would like to explore using our sanctuary for their own services. This meets the portion of our vision of sharing space with another congregation. Thanks be to our Father and Lord for the circumstances where we are able to offer our space for the furthering of His work!

The board also approved moving forward with partnering with Behavioral Innovations and Mondays with McDaniels to use our building for events with special need adults. These two organizations were brought to our attention by member Cheryl Stone. They fit very well into our second part of our vision.

With these organizations we will be sharing our space while they are responsible for all activities. One of the concepts is a “day-out” option for care providers of adults with disabilities. All staffing and upkeep will be handled by the organization. While it doesn’t require anything special from our membership, it is filling a vital role in the community. Cheryl spoke of how there are few places in the Northland available to people with these special needs. In our offering up our facility to these groups we are providing our Northland community a nearby meeting place for socialization and training of a vulnerable segment of our community.

These are just the beginning of our vision, but they give you an idea of what God has instore for us here at PHCC. Whether it’s sharing with another congregation or an organization we are using the gifts we have been granted to further God’s plan for our community.

Together we are a part of this “new thing” God is doing. To Him we give all thanks and glory!

Kathy Hendrix