Thank you again for making our annual rummage sale another tremendous success. Together, we raised over $9,000 for youth ministries at Lord of Life!
In the weeks leading up to the sale, one of our members asked for someone to pick up an old drum set that was gathering dust in their basement. They were finally ready to part with it, after not playing for years.
As we set up for the sale, we wondered who would stumble on this musical treasure. Would it be a child learning percussion who would spot the drums and beg to take them home? Would it be an adult who played in high school and longed to get back into making music? We could not have imagined how the sale would play out.
Later this fall, this set of rummage sale drums will be packed into a shipping container with medical supplies, clothes, and furniture to be shipped to the Democratic Republic of Congo. These drums will be the centerpiece of a worshipping community started by missionary Pastor Jonas Muyima. You may recognize Pastor Jonas (pictured with Pastor Lowell) because he and his wife, Eleonore, attend worship from time to time at Lord of Life. They live in West Chester half of the year when they aren’t serving, teaching, leading, and training in the Congo. But there’s more to this unbelievable story.
Several years ago, after we replaced the folding metal chairs in the Fellowship Hall with new sturdy stacking chairs, we were seeking a place to sell or donate the folding chairs. They had served us well for many years and still had life in them. Pastor Jonas heard about the chairs and asked about purchasing them for a new worshipping community in the Congo. Meeting under a tree in the open air, the congregation would gather and stand for the duration of the service or sit on the ground. Lord of Life donated all of the folding chairs and the giant rolling storage rack to the Muyima’s mission. Look in the November Lifeline for photos of our folding chairs in their new worship space.
Isn’t it beautiful how our previously used stuff can offer new life and hope to others?
This week, The Faith Alliance of West Chester & Liberty Township (https://thefaithalliance.com) celebrated fifteen years of mission and ministry in our community. The Faith Alliance is a collaborative network of Christian churches working together to alleviate local poverty and demonstrate Christian love. Lord of Life participates in many of their serving and outreach opportunities, including the Stepping Forward monthly meal, summer lunches for Lakota children, summer backpack collection, and the Feed Our Neighbor in Need food drive.
As members of The Faith Alliance gathered to celebrate, we kicked off our evening with a service project – sorting all the shoes that were recently donated for the Lakota Schools shoe drive. 348 pairs of shoes were donated with about half of them being gently used!
I cannot imagine a scenario where our church council or other ministry leaders could have fabricated a way for a drum set, a set of chairs, or tennis shoes to be used for God’s purposes, but I’m reminded of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:17-21):
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Living, sharing, and celebrating,
Pastor Lowell
To read more about Jonas & Eleonore Muyima https://www.newinternational.org/give/campaign/jonas-eleonore-muyima