Dear church: As followers of Jesus, we proclaim a message of new life in Him AND we live out His new “way” before the watching world. So, we speak out and we pour out in actions a new kingdom ethic.
The book of James tells us that faith is meant to produce works. In James 2:18 it says, “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Right before this Paul makes it clear that we are saved by grace. But this grace then propels us into ministry with and through Jesus.
As we all face this rollercoaster season of emotion, uncertainty and exhaustion, I want you to know we are here for you, we are praying for you, and we love you. We feel some of our best ways to minister to and support you right now is through prayer and encouragement. Would you take a moment today and email us at prayer@theparksa.org and let us know how we can join with you in prayer?
I know you have likely read the above verses before. My purpose in bringing them to the forefront in this ever-changing season is to remind us that the church has been uniquely deployed into our city right now. Though we aren’t gathering like we normally do, we have the great opportunity to seek the Lord as a scattered people because the church has always been both; a gathered and a scattered people. I want to be clear (and I can speak on behalf of our staff team) that we MISS you dearly! I think we say that every week in our streamed worship service. And though we miss you we don’t want to take our foot off the gas when it comes to our sentness into the world. The scattered church of which you are a part is powerful and beautiful. My prayer is that you will seek the Lord in whatever new, sustainable and creative ways in which He is calling you to join Him in the work He’s doing. Is there something simple you can do in service to a neighbor? Is there someone that’s been called to mind that may need a phone call?
What if in this turbulent season, the church is actually reinvigorated toward loving one another and our neighbors well in missional acts of service?
May we abide in Him, rest in Him and from that place then pour ourselves out in doing the work of ministry as we follow Jesus’ way into the world.
~Chris Nikkel
MacTerrace Parish Pastor
Gatherings for 8
Join us for a Social Distancing Gathering on Saturday, July 25th! You will have two opportunities to gather with people from our community. Whichever you feel most comfortable doing, we hope you will join us in this new community event. These in person or online gatherings will be created by neighborhood and/or location so you can get to know people that live in your area! Our hope is that while we can’t have conversations and gather on Sunday mornings, that this will provide an opportunity for the church community to still develop relationships and have community during this season. You can choose to do an In-Person Gathering of 8-10 people in a front yard/driveway from 6-8 PM, bring your own dinner and drinks, or a Zoom Happy Hour 8-9 PM. We hope you can join in one, or both, of these events! Click here to join a group.
Wednesday Night Worship & Prayer
Join us Wednesday nights at 8:30 PM on Facebook Live or YouTube Live for a time of worship and prayer. We look forward to interacting in real time as we re-center our hearts on what God is doing.
Church Chats
Join us every Thursday morning on Facebook Live at 10am for Church Chat. We will have some pastors from our church community gather to discuss topics and questions sent to us from you, our church family. To submit questions, email questions@theparksa.org.
Covid-19 Needs and Assistance
The Park is still gathering the needs of our community. We have created a way for you to request assistance. If you have a need you can click here.
If you are able to offer assistance to others you can click here.
Stay in Contact
If we can pray for you, please contact your parish pastor directly or send us an email at prayer@theparksa.org.
If you are experiencing any hardships during this time, we want to be there to support you. If you have questions or needs we can help with, email us at info@theparksa.org