But what is eternal life? John …show more content…
As I understand, by the 1980’s the community of Silver Spring had changed. What was once a quiet suburb was becoming more and more urbanized. It was busier, louder, more populated, and folks began moving further out and new families were not moving in. As the community declined so did the congregation and by the 2000’s they were a small fraction of what they had been, a faithful remnant remained from the group that had moved the church. The community around that time also began to shift again, efforts were made to revitalize downtown Silver Spring and it begin to experience its own resurrection, turning away from some of its past and looking to a more hopeful future. Not long into this the church hired a new Christian Education director who began to build the children and youth programing. Not long after that they were appointed a young pastor who was not afraid to shake things up a bit and do things different. Since the congregation has been steadily growing and where they once were a congregation that was basically surviving, we are now thriving. They have experienced a community resurrection, one that has not always been easy. Resurrection can be hard because it means let going of who were and latching on to who we are now in Christ. In faithfulness we are now a community living into the eternal life of the kingdom in the here and now and sharing glimpses of the kingdom with those in our community, acting as a means of grace in …show more content…
This time it is our Four Corners property. They too were a struggling community for many of the same reasons. In God’s grace, there is new hope. The building on that property is in the process of becoming our mission center, a place that will be a launching point to ministry for our community. This renovation and rejuvenation will be breathing new life and new purpose into this building. Right now the impact that we are having through the building is limited, but in relaunching it as a mission center we are able to organize it to fit the real needs of the community which looks completely different from what it did fifty years ago. Rather than seeing it as what many think is a vacant building, the mission center can become a source new life in our community. It be a place where we join with the community in bring individuals to resurrection and where the lessons of the past are brought together in the present with the hopes and dreams of the future in eternal