We are called to be a changed people, once wounded humans who have received the healing power of Jesus and his restorative presence in our lives. One way we do this is through our Living Waters ministry. The Living Waters ministry provides the opportunity for our brokenness to become a source of healing. This week’s E-News is written by Amy McLaughlin, Christ Church’s Living Water’s coordinator.
Dear Christ Church,
Eight years ago, I attended a conference for Living Waters leaders from around the world. At lunch with these other leaders, I realized how few Living Waters coordinators had the full support of their local church. At Christ Church, there was a desire for the presence of a ministry focused on healing and transformation and thoughts of this were brewing in Cliff and Christine even before they arrived at Holy Trinity in 2006. In fact, they knew of Living Waters and longed for it to become a part of our church’s DNA. Thanks to Brian and Tamara Murphy, Christ Church offered a Living Waters pilot in 2012. My husband David and I, struggling in our marriage, participated.
In the fall of that year I was asked to coordinate the ministry. I look back now and see Living Waters at Christ Church as the catalyst for some of the deeper work God has unfolded in me to bring community, light, and his felt presence into places of shadow and desolation in my heart.
Our Christ Church core value of whole life discipleship finds a healing path in the semester-long ministry of Living Waters, and in May of this year, we completed an 18-week session with a robust leadership team of nine. I would like to share some reflections from both leaders and participants this session:
“In a world of constant chatter and distraction, it is hard to pay attention to the state of our soul. This past spring, 20 individuals set apart their Monday evenings to slow down and embrace a state of being and receiving.” – a leader
“As KJ Ramsay says, ‘maybe the miracle of prayer… (is) an ascent to undo the aloneness at the center of our ache.’ ”– a participant, who found that her small group leaders companioned her to that place.
“This LW session was so encouraging to watch. Each week, 20 people from our church bravely and boldly showed up and committed to opening themselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit. With courage and vulnerability, they listened, they shared, they prayed, they wept, they confessed, and they stayed present. In the end it was beautiful to hear the ways the Lord met them in their commitment, reaffirming his love and care for them.” – a leader
Living Waters is a cruciform space of worship and teaching. It is a space of vulnerability as participants hear leaders, clergy, staff, and other participants own their pain and confession. But at its core Living Waters is a prayer ministry. Participants are companioned by leaders in listening to the Holy Spirit and noticing the work of God in the details of their lives.
Thanks be to our great God for a church that holds Christ’s healing life, death, and resurrection as the starting point for changed lives and other centered living! We look forward to offering Living Waters again in 2025 for those who would like to participate!
Amy McLaughlin