A Word from Pastor Nathan

Dear Friends:

Washington Avenue Christian Church hosted Spirit Island, an ecumenical Vacation Bible School, with our friends at Community of Faith and First Congregational United Church of Christ. Debbie Walker, our Director of Church School Education, coordinated the gathering and cultivated partnerships and volunteers within and beyond our local church. At our peak, we had eighteen children present for this time of formation.

Our curriculum for VBS came from one of our General Church entities: Division of Overseas Ministries (also known as Global Ministries). Global Ministries is a common missional witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, and the organization works with approximately 290 faith-based international partners in close to 90 countries and on every continent (except Antarctica). This shared partnership between two distinct denominations has no equal. This organization participates in the mission of God through receiving and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ by joining with global and local partners to work for justice, reconciliation, and peace.

When we think about mission, we traditionally think of what we can do or give to another person or organization. Global Ministries flips the script. We also receive from our partners and co-workers. This reception is not a warm, fuzzy feeling as the result of a good deed but a transformation of self and expansion of belief. Remember the story of the magi? They came from the East and brought gifts, but they also received something—someone—
that sent them home by another way. Global Ministries facilitates such wondrous encounters.

At Vacation Bible School, our children heard stories from children in the Caribbean. We, too, can receive and share, just like our VBS children, by participating in the Caribbean Initiative through Global Ministries. I encourage you to visit this website https://www.globalministries.org/caribbeaninitiative to discern ways in which we can both receive and share the Good News of Jesus Christ. from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.

Peace abundant,

Nathan