March 5, 2025
We wanted to continue to explain the development of our vision for Corinth. In a previous note, we explained how we gathered several people to hear stories and come up with our vision for our next step of faith. We put it like this: Corinth is a welcoming community of authentic belonging, deeply dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit, and called to build relationships with all people in all places.
What drove the idea of building relationships were stories like the ones below:
“This past Thanksgiving Corinth’s Hand2Hand ministry collected and delivered 50 full turkey meals to families. The families are so grateful and even though the interaction at distribution is short, it is meaningful to bless them. A smile and a thanksgiving sentiment is the beginning of a relationship built on love. A few weeks after the Hand2Hand Thanksgiving Meal event, one of the families reached out to me about help over the Christmas break. This family was in a difficult situation, living in temporary housing outside of the school district. They were struggling and losing hope. I connected with them about their needs and our small group was called to help them with food and clothing and prayers.”– Cindy
“When I lived in North Dakota, I was able to spend two nights a week hosting trivia in local restaurants. I was able to build significant relationships with the employees and regulars in those places. I can remember more than once sitting with someone sharing honestly about the hard things in their life while I was able to hold out a tiny bit of hope in the good news of the gospel in a non-judgmental and relational way. It was amazing to watch God work in those places.” – Jared
“As a business owner, I put a priority on building relationships and connections with my employees. I have made it clear to my employees that I respect them for who they are even if we don’t agree on everything. I believe this emulates God’s Grace and acceptance. I pray for my employees and I let them know I am praying for them when they are struggling. I text written prayers to them to show God’s love for them and to show them they are not alone. I know God is working through these moments. I don’t know exactly what God is doing but I feel called to do this, and I remain faithful that God will work in ways beyond imagination in the future.” – Shawn
“Where can we see God work both in and around us the most?”
It seemed that real, authentic relationships were always the place where God worked most deeply. We were asking questions like “Where can we see God work both in and around us the most?” and what kept rising to the surface was relationships.
So we decided this was a crucial place for us to lean into for our next step of faith.
As a part of Corinth, how does this make you feel? Maybe a little excited for what God might do? For some of us who are a little more introverted, it might make us apprehensive about reaching out. But think about the ways you have seen God work the most in and around you. How have relationships been a part of that?
Are you willing to join us in this next step of faith and look for people around you to build relationships with? Look both inside and outside of the church for places where you can form deep and authentic relationships.
There will be more soon on how we can help empower and equip each other to do just that.
Jason and Jared