I am excited for our new series, He Made Us Family, our God’s Work, Our Witness 2012 series. As we launch into it, I wanted to share my family’s story of what our church family life at Mars Hill Church has looked like.
The last five months have been filled with great trials for my wife, Angie, our boys, and myself after the loss of our fourth son through a premature birth and Angie’s continued battle with cancer. To have faced these trials without our church family would have been absolutely impossible. I can’t count the number of dinners they served us, the number of cards sharing their love for us, or the hundreds of them praying for us.
‘Why do they keep helping?’
One of the most powerful moments I can recall was when my dad, a non-Christian, was staying at our house while Angie was in the hospital. Day after day someone would stop by to help in some way.
Finally, after about a week, my dad said to me in exasperation: “Thomas, what in the world is going on? Why do people keep coming and helping?”
“This is the family God has given me, Dad,” I answered. “And this is what we do for each other.”
He responded, “Wow, this is really something.” Later, I heard him talking to another family member, who is also not a Christian, telling them how our church was rallying to us and how amazing it was to see.
This is the family of God in action. We are not always perfect, but we do strive to love, give, and serve, just as Jesus has already done for us.
Join us in welcoming new brothers and sisters
Behind the scenes, God, our Father, is adopting many more children into his family through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. This means that we will welcome many new brothers and sisters in Christ into our church family. These are the very same kinds of family members who will one day care for one another in the ways my family has received love and care. This is one of the most clear, concrete ways that our gracious heavenly Father loves us: through the love and care of others.
Please help us introduce more people to Jesus. We’ll continue to make disciples and to plant additional churches, so I invite you to prayerfully consider supporting Mars Hill Church this Christmas season in hopeful anticipation of these future brothers and sisters. Your prayers and financial support enable us to fulfill the call God has placed upon us. As Jesus builds his church, he is also creating families that love and care for one another. I don’t know about you, but this really excites me and brings me a lot of joy!
So please, go to marshill.com/gods-work to give a one-time offering, sign up for a new Connect account, and or even set up a pledge for next year to help us better steward your gift by planning our work.
From your brother in Christ, thank you. Thank you for your prayers and for supporting God’s work through Mars Hill Church.
Thomas Hurst is the lead pastor of the Downtown Bellevue church.
