Dear Christ Church,
This week we are excited to share two upcoming opportunities to explore a heart of mission. Read below for an invitation to an upcoming Community First! Village tour as well as information on our Local Mission Fair happening this Sunday in the courtyard after each service!
COMMUNITY FIRST! VILLAGE TOUR
I’ve encountered various descriptions of the world: “a stage,” “a fine place worth fighting for,” and “a canvas to our imagination.” However, Alan Graham, founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes (MLF), offers a fresh perspective by urging us to see the world as it truly is—dirty, rough, tragic, and beautiful, especially when he aptly labels it as “a wonderful mess.”
For over 25 years, MLF has tackled the world’s messiness by feeding Austin’s unhoused individuals. This Saturday, February 24, our parish has the privilege to tour MLF’s Community First! Village, a development providing affordable and permanent housing for those emerging from chronic homelessness. It’s not too late to sign up for the tour! Whether you’ve visited Community First! before or not, this tour promises a meaningful experience of community exploration. Afterward, we’re invited to spend time with some of our own parishioners who live at the village, blessing their homes and meeting their neighbors. It’s an opportunity to delve deeper into understanding homelessness in a low-risk setting. There’s a solid group already signed up and the whole family is invited. Come embrace being “wonderfully messy” together! Click here to register.
LOVE WHERE WE LIVE/LOCAL MISSION FAIR
During the Epiphany season we joyfully exclaimed our desire each Sunday, as part of the Kenyan eucharistic rite, that the Lord would “Be glorified in the United States; be glorified in Austin!” And indeed, there are many organizations doing great work here to proclaim and embody the good news of Jesus in our own state and city and neighborhood, who are inviting us to join them.
This Sunday after both of our services you will have the opportunity to engage with representatives from several of these organizations in the courtyard at our Love Where We Live Local Missions Fair. The organizations representing will be
- Kairos Prison Ministry
- Church Under the Bridge
- The Source (crisis pregnancy center + wholistic care for moms)
- Bridges International Student Ministry
- Safe Families (foster care + family support)
Plan to linger, peruse, and ask questions to find out how you might get involved with one of these organizations, to serve and love our city.
Peace,
Jen Shang and Wes Crawford