Serving the Church | Building Community

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

People are always God's focus. At its core, the gospel is all about relationship. The first calling that God has given us is to serve the local church. Assemblée Chrétienne Mulhouse (ACM) is about 60 people, including kids, and we have been called to work with them to support their current ministry efforts and to bring extra capability to expand their ministries into new directions. Each of us brings a diverse set of skills and education that will help us be a great asset to the church as it continues to grow.

We both have led in different situations such as small group leaders, running a volunteer team, working on professional teams at our jobs, and other opportunities. We also both have had a deep desire to help foster community and connection. Whether it was organizing a neighborhood block party, connecting one-on-one over coffee, or bringing together a small group, we have really loved this expression of togetherness that reflects the communal heart of God.

Interpersonal Ministry

Pastoral care

One of Kristy's best strengths is her ability to connect deeply with people. As Didier, the pastor of ACM, recognized, she is a pastor at heart and being a pastor is more than just preaching, it's caring for people. She has a passion for authenticity and connecting to people through their individual life stories. Through our home church in Ohio, she's been trained as a lay counselor which will help her as she looks to connect with the people of the church and help them on their own spiritual and life journeys.

A recurring theme we’ve heard from our secular and Christian French friends is that the French have lost their sense of hope—and the French are a passionate people—which is a real tragedy. Restoration of hope is her modus operandi, and she believes a lot of that is accomplished through conversation, counsel, formation, and guidance. We are all in the story of God’s redemption.

Spiritual formations

Understanding God is more than just learning about God in the Bible. It's also about experiencing the power and presence of God in our daily lives. We believe that God is a living God and is present in the world around us and that His Spirit still moves in this world. Helping people connect with and encounter God through spiritual formations principals—meditation, solitude, silence, stillness, study, contemplation, prayer, and so on—is something we feel is profoundly important in building and maintaining a strong walk with Christ. Kristy desires to write and teach spiritual formations curriculum to build spiritual connection to God and others within the body.

Women's ministry

Kristy has been specifically asked to help expand the women's ministry at ACM. Currently, Isabelle, one of the church's pastors, is running it. But, like every other leader in the church, she has a professional job that prevents her from investing as much time and energy into ministry as she would like. She and Kristy have connected really well and are both looking forward to sharing this challenge together.

Communications and Media

Social media and communications

Social media is a great way for churches to connect with the people in the church as well as those outside of the church. By helping improve and expand social media and other communications, we will help the people in the church stay connected with what's happening. Rob has been asked to help improve and expand the ACM website as well as work on increasing other communications avenues.

With his extensive background in photography, video production, web design, and other media production, as well as experience in various forms of communication, he's excited about helping the church explore new ways of communicating outward but also within the community. Creating videos for sermons, outreaches, trainings, and other purposes within the church would help bring greater effectiveness and flexibility to the work that the church is doing.

Weekend services tech team

After 6 years of running the Vineyard Columbus video and lighting team, Rob is very experienced in finding, training, and working with volunteers to keep this critical part of the service functioning. This is an area where if everything goes smoothly, it’s invisible and seamless, drawing the congregation in and allowing them to focus on what’s happening in front; however, if things go wrong, it can be very distracting and disruptive. Having technical and creative experience in this will help build up and guide the team as the church continues to grow and develop.

 

 

Explore more of our vision or learn about the challenge of ministry in France.

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