Manchester is now our new home. Lynn and I have been here for 2 weeks now,
and fall more in love with the town everyday.
To love a town means you love the people. We love the people! In meeting so many people, business owners,
residents, and people who are serving the community, the sense that the Holy
Spirit is moving in this New England town is obvious.
Everyone we talk to at this point is very
open and find it interesting that a new church is coming to Manchester. We are hearing comments such as, “I have so
many questions about God”, I hope that you have a Saturday night service
because I work on Sunday”, and “Your a Pastor?, I didn’t know I could have a
relationship with the priest”. There are times of sowing, times of watering, and times of Harvest. The scriptures say that "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers or few". This certainly is a time and place of harvest.
There has been so many times in my life that
I have been disobedient from God’s plan for my life, but not today. And today I ask that God pour out my life for
his glory.
Numbers 14:24
But my servant Caleb, because he has
a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into
which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
The USA Today
quoted the PEW organization that 1 in 5 are without religious affiliation. More people are checking “None” in
surveys. In general, this is a true
statement in New England, but we all worship something such as other people and
relationships, or our stuff. In Goshen
Connecticut a white bison was born last month, and many Native Americans are
visiting the town to worship…that’s no bull J
I see a little
something different in this town. People
in New England are just simply tired or even broken by religion… the hypocrisy,
the inability to live by certain rules or standards.
LifeSong Manchester is
a community of people who most of all are in love with Jesus. Everyone you ever come into contact with has
a story to share, at LifeSong we listen and honor those stories. We also believe that we are all a part of a
greater story, God’s Story, and we want to be a place where we can help you
enter into his story in a real and authentic way.
We
are beginning as a small group of people who all want the same thing, to
transform lives and communities through Jesus.
It has become obvious to me that people in Hartford county really do
want a relationship with God, they just don’t want to play games and be
fake. Me too!
Our launch date is not
yet set, but when we have met the milestone of 4 to 5 small groups of people
sharing life together it will be time to launch.
We
will be known in our community as a safe place to explore faith in Christ with
others who are on a spiritual journey.
We know it can and will get a little messy, but I believe that as we
start living authentically God smiles and says it’s “A beautiful mess”
Planting
The Gospel,
Pastor
Tim