Since 2017, we have been traveling to Detroit, Michigan for a mission experience with Rippling Hope Ministries. Each year, we notice a more racially integrated society.
Over the years, we have cleared fence lines, painted houses, repaired garages, replaced toilets, and built a garage from the bottom slab to the top. Carl Zerweck, director of Rippling Hope, knows the caliber of talent we bring, and sets aside some jobs especially for our group.
It’s not all hard work. We play in the river that separates Detroit from Canada, visit the downtown area, and spend half a day at the Detroit Zoo.
During one of our devotionals, Brian from Idaho marveled at how much more we volunteers gain from the experience than those we are helping. We gain a greater understanding of two characteristics of the Kingdom of God that Jesus had addressed: The “last will be first” and the “the greatest among you must be the least” (see Mark 10:31, 43). That is how things must be ordered in the human family in order for us to finally be made whole, to be saved from our diseased, selfish, egocentric way of doing things.
As a church, we are called to share God’s love with every unique and special person (in other words, every person there is). We try to do this as individuals every day of our lives, everywhere we go. But there is something powerful about a church working together to reach out to others. We don’t do it so we will have more members. Membership is not the point; service is. We share God’s love with our neighbors near and far because we are followers of Christ who taught us that loving our neighbors is what a fulfilled life is all about. It is who we are. We are people who love God and love others. It is how we reach beyond our walls and share the heart of God.
There are lots of needs in the world. It is a blessing to be the hands and feet of God’s love!
Over the years, we have cleared fence lines, painted houses, repaired garages, replaced toilets, and built a garage from the bottom slab to the top. Carl Zerweck, director of Rippling Hope, knows the caliber of talent we bring, and sets aside some jobs especially for our group.
It’s not all hard work. We play in the river that separates Detroit from Canada, visit the downtown area, and spend half a day at the Detroit Zoo.
During one of our devotionals, Brian from Idaho marveled at how much more we volunteers gain from the experience than those we are helping. We gain a greater understanding of two characteristics of the Kingdom of God that Jesus had addressed: The “last will be first” and the “the greatest among you must be the least” (see Mark 10:31, 43). That is how things must be ordered in the human family in order for us to finally be made whole, to be saved from our diseased, selfish, egocentric way of doing things.
As a church, we are called to share God’s love with every unique and special person (in other words, every person there is). We try to do this as individuals every day of our lives, everywhere we go. But there is something powerful about a church working together to reach out to others. We don’t do it so we will have more members. Membership is not the point; service is. We share God’s love with our neighbors near and far because we are followers of Christ who taught us that loving our neighbors is what a fulfilled life is all about. It is who we are. We are people who love God and love others. It is how we reach beyond our walls and share the heart of God.
There are lots of needs in the world. It is a blessing to be the hands and feet of God’s love!
