Issue 80 - Community - Letter from the Editor (Project Arctos)

Dear readers,

Have you ever asked someone to share how they felt God was leading them? What about an entire community?

My wife once shared about how a Christian group she knew of would discern God’s voice. Whenever they had a major decision to make, they would ask everyone to go pray, wait on God, and write down what they heard and then come back and share. The idea was that if the Holy Spirit was speaking to them, then they should hear the same or similar things. In John 10:27, we read that God’s people, “His sheep”, hear His voice. For some, this is a scary thing to do: what if we hear differently? What if we hear wrong? But on the other side, what if we fail to stop to let God speak to us and lead us?

For this edition, we asked members of the Bergen Christian Testimony Church (BCTC) community’s English congregation to write about what God had put on their hearts. As they sought God and wrote down their article ideas, we saw a common thread form. Despite the fact that we all see the world from different angles and perspectives, a common message arose: one of community, of caring for one another, of what it means to be the Church. And from their voices, we can see powerful and important themes for the Church to wrestle with as we move from one generation to younger generations.

In this edition, Lilia writes an important piece asking why community is so difficult. Tiffany follows with a thought-provoking piece exploring generational anxiety. What does it look like when we allow fear to rule how we raise our children? What are the effects of this, and what can we do about it? Finally, Maria reflects upon her experiences in different Christian settings, both the highs and lows, and how they have shaped her expectations and hopes for what it means to be part of the big “C” Church.

In all these things, I ask you to carefully and prayerfully consider the ideas they present. Their articles point to love and what it looks like to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit take up their sharing, place it in our hearts, and help us move forward in ways that help reveal more and more of Christ and His love in our communities.

In Christ,
Jonathan

附註：願意與我們一起辨識神如何對您所屬的群體說話嗎？請透過 he***@***********os.com 與我們聯繫。我們很樂意連結，並看見神如何在您的群體中動工。

You can also find these articles online, at projectarctos.com, or listen to many of our articles on YouTube.