The New Testament teaches us that the early church gathered both in large public gatherings in traditional places of worship and in smaller gatherings in places such as people’s homes. It was through this combination of gatherings that the early followers of Jesus began to reach their community and express what it means to be the gathering of God’s people, the Church. As we continue to network with Franklin Park Church, we see God’s hand opening doors for us to work with people who want to live out this vision in reaching the Indianapolis area. We are excited about the chance God is giving us to launch two Alpha courses this fall: one meeting in Franklin Township and one meeting in the western suburbs of Indianapolis. In both places God is opening up strategic locations where we can not only gather people that are in the church, but also work as teams to reach out to the surrounding neighborhoods.

 

For those not familiar with Alpha, it is a 10—11 week course based on a DVD series which brings people through the basics of following Jesus. It covers such topics as: Is There More to Life Than This? Who is Jesus? What Does the Holy Spirit Do? What About the Church? There are several new believers who have connected with Franklin Park Church. We hope to use Alpha to help them learn the basics of faith and develop a foundation for their lives as Christians. We also hope to use this tool to reach out to friends of team members who live in the surrounding communities and who have not connected with a local church. We believe Alpha will be a bridge to connect these people with the local church.

 

Pray that God would use these outreaches to help us spread His Good News to the neighborhoods around our meeting locations. Pray that He draws the people who need to be a part of Alpha to these gatherings. Pray for Leon as he prepares to lead the teachings and discussions each week that God would give him wisdom in knowing how to lead each group into a stronger understanding of the Gospel.

 

Financial Support Update

 

As we build the ministry of Village Soul, we have set a base personal and ministry budget of $2100 / month. We have been given permission to supplement this with up to 20 hours / week of outside work. As the ministry grows and demands that we commit more time to it, we will seek to increase our budget in $500/month increments until we reach our budget goal of $3700 / month.

 

In our transition from working with Great Lakes Chi Alpha to launching Village Soul, we asked the AG churches in Indiana to redirect the Faith Promises they had made to us to help other Chi Alpha missionaries in Indiana get on campus. We’re thankful that many of them responded by supporting Madeline Wengert as the new campus pastor at the University of Indianapolis.

 

At the same time we are blessed to have several of our friends who have been supporting us in the past, renew their commitment to partner with us in this new area of ministry. To date we have received confirmation of $1750/month in renewed and new faith promises for our work with Village Soul. We have also been blessed with special offerings to help us with the start-up expenses of launching this new ministry. Thank you to everyone who has committed to invest in the development of community-based outreach in the Indianapolis area. Anyone who would like to invest in our ministry can send a donation to the support address to the right or visit www.longardlog.com for more information about partnering with our ministry.

 

 

 

Leon & Tina Longard

341 N Ellis St

Plainfield, IN 46168-1048

Home: (317) 838-0618

Cell: (317)306-9819

E-Mail: llongard@gmail.com

tklongard@gmail.com

Website: http://www.longardlog.com/

http://www.villagesoul.info/

 

Financial Support Info:

 

Please mail all tax-deductible donations to:

 

 

Village Soul

PO Box 39471

Indianapolis, IN 46239

 

Make checks payable to Franklin Park Church and write Village Soul in the memo.

 

If you are making a monthly Faith Promise please include a note indicating your intentions. You can also download a Faith Promise form at http://www.longardlog.com/.