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Our journey to Indiana two years ago began with a passion God had place in our hearts to come along side local churches and assist them in building bridges of outreach into different segments of their communities. Working with Great Lakes Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, we were focusing on helping churches reach out to college and university campuses in their communities. In the past few months changes in the personnel structure of Chi Alpha made coaching of church-based ministries a smaller part of my (Leon’s) overall portfolio with Great Lakes Chi Alpha. As we discussed these changes with our Area Director, Steve Lehmann, we came to a mutual decision that God may be opening doors for us to pursue this passion God had put on our hearts in ways that went beyond the scope of our role with Chi Alpha. Pastor Steve encouraged us to spend some time exploring what new context God may give us for pursuing our vision. As we prayed for God’s direction, God placed on both Tina’s and my heart the name of Rev. Greg Allison, a pastor who is planting a church in the southeastern part of Indianapolis-Marion County (Franklin Township). Franklin Township is a fast growing area of Marion County and in need of new Spirit-filled faith communities to reach its growing and diverse population. After a couple of meetings with Pastor Allison, we began to see how God was giving us a synergy of vision, and we began to pray about ways we could network with Pastor Allison and his church as a base of operations. As we have had further conversations with Pastor Allison and with district A/G leaders we have had further confirmation that God has opened this door of ministry for us. As a result, we will begin working along side Pastor Allison and the people of Franklin Park Church as resident missionaries to help them develop outreach-focused life groups and satellite ministries to reach out to various pockets of their community. The name of our ministry is Village Soul. Page two of this newsletter contains an expanded vision statement for this ministry. In making this transition, we contacted AG US Missions to see if there was a category within the US Missions structure within which we could continue to work as missionary associates. Though they see the value of our vision and have given us their blessing in pursuing it, they were unable to find a category within the current structure to provide a financial covering for Village Soul. After discussion with the Indiana District Office of the AG, we have determined that currently the best system for providing financial accountability is to work under the covering of Franklin Park Church while we explore the possibility of creating our own non-profit organization for future ministry. Our account with AG US Missions will remain open through the end of August. All donations to our ministry after August 25, 2009 should be sent through our new structure with Franklin Park Church. Checks should be made payable to Franklin Park Church with Village Soul written in the memo. Donations and other ministry related correspondence can be mailed to Village Soul, PO Box 39471, Indianapolis, IN 46239. Mission and Vision of Village Soul Village Soul is a missions-oriented ministry that assists the local church in developing vibrant faith communities that are seeking to know and follow Jesus by integrating spiritual encounter, personal growth, authentic relationships, and outreach into every aspect of their daily lives. Village: A small group of dwellings usually ranking in size between a hamlet and a town. Soul: A central or integral part of something; the vital core. Even in the smallest town or township there can be multiple “villages” or pocket communities that display their own set of characteristics or soul. Sometimes there is a need to build a bridge to connect a local church with the soul of each pocket community, to bring the fullness of the Gospel into a context that will speak to the soul of each “village.” Often people in these communities live on the fringe of society and will not be inclined to enter a church without someone to guide the way. With our rapidly changing culture, there is also a need for flexibility in developing structures that will be effective in reaching these communities, while being faithful to the core teachings of Jesus. Village Soul exists to assist the local church in building bridges to pockets of the community that they have not reached into before. Our ultimate mission is to help those seeking spiritual encounter to connect with the true and living God through faith in Jesus Christ by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the followers of Christ whose vintage faith is set forth in the Scriptures. Following are a couple ways a Village Soul missionary might function:
Home Address & Contact Info: Leon & Tina Longard |
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Newsletters >
July 2009 |