Seeing the Power of God at Work

In line with Tamara's teaching from Sunday, as you're praying in this Lenten season, I'd encourage you to pray for ECV's core dream of seeing the power of God at work more and more.

I know everything I'm posting here is an ECV "core dream," but this one really, truly is at the core of what we want to be about as a church. Our hope for the world and for our church is founded on our expectation that God does and will continue to act in our world. This is something unique to us as a community of faith (this is not an expectation shared by our secular environment) and so a lot of our hopes and dreams in this area is a matter of raising expectations, making ourselves available to be used by God, making ourselves available to God to be transformed by His power.

Specifically, let's pray that:

1) We would regularly see the power of God at work in our Sunday gatherings, homegroups, our lives in general—that we would see people healed, that we would hear from God (in words, pictures, etc.), that we would see prayers answered and lives transformed.

2) Our church would become a place where we are coming to identify the various Spiritual gifts that God has given us personally and corporately.

3) ECV would be a place in which people deal honestly with their brokenness and experience God's healing power.

4) We would become known as a place where holistic healing is sought—and found—where medical, psychological, and spiritual approaches to healing are integrated. (Big, hairy-scary dream: A team of prayer ministers to whom doctors could refer patients—whoa...)

St. Patrick's Day & ECV Sunday Gathering

A quick heads-up on the hullabaloo you might encounter today:

Today is New Haven's St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade is set to start at 1pm and end around 4pm. From the parade route, it appears that Elm Street will be closed from College to Orange, and Temple will be closed from Grove to Crown. Here's my best guess (parade route in green, street closings in red):

The police said they'll start opening up streets even while the parade is still going, so some streets will already be re-opened by 4pm.

Anyway, plan accordingly. Come a bit early (come downtown and watch the parade!) and we'll see you at 4.

A Dream of Having an International Impact

Hey, this week as you're praying for ECV (along with asking God to work in your own life and in the lives of a handful of folks in your world), I'd encourage you to pray for one of the dreams we feel that God has given us for ECV: a dream of having an international perspective and impact.

Let's be praying:

1. For our current partners who are either working overseas or working on international issues. You heard this Sunday about the situation our partner in Darfur is facing as the government is taking steps to remove humanitarian groups from the country. Let's pray that our partner org be able to continue their work among the women they serve. Let's also pray for Love146 and Pathways and the Kingdom work they do.

2. For Audrey Lin, as she prepares to begin serving the urban poor in Taiwan with OMF, beginning this summer. As many of you know, Audrey will be ECV's first missionary. Pray that her financial support and paperwork would continue to come together, that she would invest her remaining time in New Haven well, preparing for the work that God has for her in the years to come. Pray that God would make ECV a generous and passionate sending church, that we would be great pray-ers and supporters for those we send out.

3. For the ECV Educator Training trip to Indonesia this summer (late July/early August). Pray that the right folks would join the team (currently composed of Gracie, Janine, Alyssa, and Julianne, with a couple others still prayerfully considering joining the team), that the objectives for the trip would continue to become clearer in the days and weeks to come, and that God would provide for them financially. Pray that this trip would become a model for others from our community to use their professional training on behalf of the world's poor.

Thanks for partnering in what God's doing in New Haven and around the world! See you in Homegroup and/or Sunday...

A Stronger, Healthier New Haven

Dear ECVers,

One of our dreams for ECV is that we will see God move to create a "Stronger, Healthier New Haven" and that we in ECV can be a part of making that happen.

To that end, and to kick-off our time of praying through ECV's dreams during this Lent Season, please pray for the following things:

1. For increased Unity in New Haven: Whether it's in Town-Gown relations, Class/Race/Ethnic divisions, Neighborhood divisions, or even in relations between churches, schools, government, or non-profits. This is a town full of "silos", so please pray that God will break through the "dividing walls of hostility" (to very loosely borrow from Ephesians 2:14).
1a. Also, pray for whatever role ECV as a church can play in bringing people together, making connections and sharing resources with the rest of the New Haven community.
1b. In addition, pray that ECV itself can reflect the unity and diversity of New Haven, that more people of different classes and races can feel that they can be a part of the ECV community; pray for the courage to take the risks to partner with God in this way.

2. For Peace and an End to Violence in New Haven: We just heard from the Your Place Teen Youth Center that there have been recent shootings in Newhallville where they are located. Unfortunately, youth (and gang) violence is a major concern throughout the city, not just in Newhallville. Please pray that the Kingdom of God will break through and end the bloodshed and pain on our streets.
2a. Also, pray for more safe and productive places where children and teens can gather rather than just on the streets. Your Place is one of a very few places where teens can have structured fun and feel safe. We need more youth centers, more after-school programs, and more youth employment opportunities. In light of our City's budget crisis, we will definitely need a miracle to see that happen!

3. For our Local Partners: Your Place Teen Center, New Haven Reads, Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, and Young Life (currently in Fair Haven) - That God will increase the good work that they are doing, will provide for their needs so they can continue to serve the city, and for more opportunities for us to develop deeper partnerships with these organizations (and possibly others as well).

There are many other things that we can pray for New Haven (I haven't even touched the subjects of healthcare, or economic development, or education), but I'm sure God will lead you to pray for whatever needs there are in this City. Also, please let me know if you get any words, pictures, impressions that might help us as a church to move forward in helping to build a "Stronger, Healthier New Haven."

Happy Praying!
Hannah

Lent Prayer Challenge

So, as you may have heard yesterday at ECV, I feel that God is leading our community into a season of prayer during Lent (from now until Easter). Specifically, I shared yesterday three specific challenges to folks in our community for this season:

1) Let's each pray individually about one specific thing that we would really like to see God do in our personal lives (a personal character development growth edge, an answer to a critical discernment question, a practical life need).

2) Let's all pray for ECV, specifically praying into the 8 dreams I mentioned Sunday (Seeing the power of God at work; more and more people following Jesus; a stronger, healthier New Haven; following Jesus more and more deeply; making an international impact; a culture-making ECV community; bridge-building & reconciliation; a church & city full of strong families). I'll send out emails each week about a dream, some goals that we have felt led to set, and some prayer requests. 6 weeks, 8 dreams; fuzzy math will have to prevail.

3) Let's each pray for around six people in our lives in New Haven whom we would like to come to know who God is, what He has for their lives, etc. Let's pray for God to bless them, for God's best for them. Let's pray with expectation that, as we pray, God really will show Himself in their lives and be ready to take risks to follow up with them and invite them deeper. Maybe even take the risk to share with them, "Hey, I'm doing this thing for Lent where I'm praying for some folks in my life. Anyway, I'm praying for you; is there anything I could be praying for you for?" Maybe God will do something; then what? Could be exciting...

I'd really encourage you to join us for this prayer challenge whether you've been following Jesus for years or are still trying to figure out who (or whether) God is and what He's all about. Feel free to use this as something of a faith "experiment," to see what God might do. Take a risk and see if God is for real; maybe He is, and that really would be something, wouldn't it?

Anyway, we'll be talking about this on Sundays for the next six weeks, hearing stories of what God is doing as we pray. Homegroups, too, will be checking in on this, providing smaller contexts for sharing our prayer request, praying for one another and all that good stuff. If you haven't yet, check out a homegroup; even just commit to trying it out for these next 6 weeks.

I hope this season of prayer will help us continue to invest more and more deeply in the pattern of invitation and risk in faith that God's been drawing us into over the last couple months. As we've risked, God has shown up; let's keep pressing in.

Church @ the Playwright (3/8)

Church at the Playwright
144 Temple St.
Sunday, 3/8 4pm

This coming Sunday, 3/8, we will be meeting in the back room at the Playwright at 144 Temple Street for our regular Sunday worship gathering at 4pm. Andy Saperstein will be starting our Lenten teaching series through the latter parts of First Corinthians, beginning with 1Cor 12.

So, come, bring a friend, and experience the rare opportunity to worship God in the inimitable atmosphere of New Haven's favorite Irish-church-cum-Irish-pub.

[Fine print: Parents and children should meet the Children's Ministry folks at the Playwright and they'll walk the kids to the spaces we'll be using from there. Childcare will be next door in the Love146 offices and Sunday School will be at the United Church Parish Hall. We were bumped from our normal meeting space; we'll be back at United Church 3/15.]