And while our clinic always depends on one-day servants to operate, this February we’re giving the opportunity for a few Sojourn community groups to be involved in a more extensive way: Adopt the Medical Clinic.

Gimme Some Details …

We’re not calling you to adopt the whole medical clinic, of course. You’ll simply be responsible – under the guidance of a Med Clinic leader – for set up and take-down of one particular area. Here’s what it involves …

On Friday, Feb. 24, we’ll gather at our midtown campus (930 Mary St.) at 6 p.m. Each group will receive its set-up direction – tables, chairs, etc. – from the area leader, complete with printed room “blueprints.” Once set-up is finished (which shouldn’t take very long), the groups will be provided dinner, and we’ll spend a bit of time praying for the next day’s events. Our goal is to have everyone finished by at least 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, show up at The 930 at 10:30 a.m. We’ll tour the clinic again, perform any last minute tweaks to the rooms, and then spend some time praying. At 11, we’ll read from God’s Word, have a short devotion, and listen to a quick rundown of our various responsibilities during the rest of the afternoon. The clinic is open from noon to 4 p.m. Once everyone has made it through the clinic, everyone will help with taking down tables, folding up chairs and cleaning their areas.

Interested in adopting the clinic? Need more info? Email Josh Thomas at jthomas@sojournchurch.com.

Why Mercy Monday?

It is clear from Scripture that God’s people are to be marked by a countercultural mercy, a benevolence toward a watching world that is set apart in its character. We are to shine as lights in the world, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Yet for many, stepping into that darkness is a daunting– sometimes paralyzing – endeavor. Where does one even start?

What is Mercy Monday?

Mercy Monday, then, is a catalyst. It is a chance to slip slowly into the waters of biblical mercy and face-to-face ministry for those who don’t feel equipped to dive in head-first. It’s a primer for local mission, an introduction to both personal and neighborhood service, an opportunity to proclaim the good news in intimate settings to those who may not look like us, may not talk like us, may not think like us. It’s also a chance for those who may already be comfortable in these situations to teach and lead others by example. No matter where you are on the spectrum, there’s a place for you at Mercy Monday. Furthermore, it’s something we don’t want to contain to one day; we don’t want you to come to do mercy on Mondays, but to become more merciful seven days a week.

How does Mercy Monday work?

We gather in the gallery of The 930, our Midtown building, for a short devotional. The Word of God is read, and we are reminded that we aren’t there to “do good deeds.” Rather, we are to focus on the boundless grace and matchless mercy we’ve received through Jesus Christ; whatever we do that evening should flow from and be informed by that glorious truth. We then split into groups of 3-5 people, led by a mercy leader, to:

• Visit homes in Germantown and Shelby Park or surrounding neighborhoods

• Serve in or tour local organizations we support – such as Jefferson Street Baptist Center, A Woman’s Choice, or local neighborhood associations

• Prayer walk the streets and dialogue with whomever we may run across

• Serve our neighborhood through various projects, such as street clean-ups

When is Mercy Monday?

We meet the first and third Mondays of each month, at 6:30 p.m.

To learn more …

For more information on Mercy Monday, or to learn more about biblical mercy and how your group can cultivate its sense of service or mission wherever you meet, please contact Josh Thomas at jthomas@sojournchurch.com.

It appears, however, that we’re looking at foul weather for Monday evening that may prevent us from going out. But rather than call things off completely, I’d like to encourage our Monday community groups to show up at The 930 for a time of Advent celebration and fellowship (hot chocolate and snacks provided). We’ll spend some time hanging out and relaxing, but also praying for our neighborhoods as well as our overseas missionaries (it is Missions Month, after all!).

For now, we’ll plan on caroling the rest of the week (as long as conditions cooperate).

If you have any questions, feel free to email Josh Thomas at jthomas@sojournchurch.com.

Saturday, September 17, 2011
Noon to 6pm

Join us as we celebrate with our neighborhood!
We’ll have Free Food, Games, Bouncies, and the Affordable Art Show.
Click Here for more information and to sign up to Serve. We need hundreds of you to serve!

Get involved:

-Sign Up to Serve at the Medical Clinic: www.sojournmedicalclinic.com

-Pass out Flyers for the Clinic and the Festival: Next Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday starting at 6:30. Email jthomas@sojournchurch.com to let us know if you and your group can come.

-Rally your Community Group to bake cakes for the Fall Festival Cake Walk. They should be baked and dropped off at the 930 on September 15-16 from 9am-4pm, or September 17 9am-noon. Have a baking party with your Group!

-Sign up to Serve at the Fall Festival. Click Here to Sign Up

Come out and Volunteer: the next Work Day will be this Saturday, June 11th. Click on the link above for more info!

The garden is located at St. Catherine Street and Hancock Street.

With the Medical Clinic quickly approaching on April 30th, we are avidly trying to let our neighbors know.

Our biggest way of communicating to the Germantown/Shelby Park neighborhood is through distributing flyers about the Medical Clinic.

Please come join us on the following days and times to help spread the word! Bring everyone in your community group, even kids! Meet in the gallery.

• This coming Monday, April 18th - during Mercy Monday at 6:30pm
• Tuesday, April 19th – during your group’s meeting time. Meet at 6:30pm
• Thursday, April 21st – during your group’s meeting time. Meet at 6:30pm

For more information on the clinic, click Here!

Blog written by Ryan Brandt, a member of a Community Group in Clifton Heights

Since I grew up in a Christian home and have been a believer for (at least) 10 years, I thought that by now I would have figured out Christianity. But I’m far from it. And today I realized that I understand even less than I thought. Why? Because I have been seriously misunderstanding what hospitality means in light of the Gospel. So, you might ask, what is hospitality?

My beloved community group has helped me find an answer. Two of our members—and also two of the most recent baptisms(!)—Denis and Laura Beiter, have taken into their home another member of our community group, Hannah Keel. Hannah was in transition, they saw a need, and they offered. As Laura remarked, “We have an excess of space, and Hannah needed a place.”

Going into this interview, I assumed that the Beiters’ decision was a difficult one because, among other things, they have four kids and two busy lives. I am neither a husband nor a father, but that sounds tremendously demanding. In any case, their answers surprised me, to say the least. After I probed him with questions, Denis said, “We use what we have, and, well, we have more space than time.” In light of their excess, they made room for Hannah; they became, as we say, hospitable. Awesome. But I suppose we are still left with the biggest question of all: Is hospitality really that important? It’s just cordially entertaining and taking in guests, right? Well…. or so I thought.

Have you ever noticed the frequency of the word ‘hospitality’ in the Bible? Or, rather, have you ever considered the significance of where the concept most frequently occurs? The truth is surprising. Paul and Peter, for example, command hospitality in the context of true Christian love, as a prerequisite or result of love (Rom 12:13; 1 Pet 4:9), or, alternatively, Paul places it under the requirements for an elder (1 Tim 3:2)—an elder! I guess it might be more important than I thought.

Or, as the author of Hebrews concludes, “Let brotherly love continue” (Heb 13:1). How does he say that this love continues? One might expect him first to respond that we should read the Bible, evangelize, or encourage, rebuke, and exhort. Or maybe you’d expect him to say, “Preach the Gospel!” But the author of Hebrews does not respond in this way; instead, he immediately continues, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2). This is nothing short of astounding. Hospitality seems to constitute one of the greatest ways in which we love. Why is this?

It’s a fair question, and I don’t think it’s asked enough. We are all too familiar with the picture of the hospitable elderly woman sharing milk and cookies with the neighborhood children. Less familiar but also hospitality is the situation with the Beiter family. But why is this so loving? Well, to answer briefly, this picture best represents the heavenly reality that we have in Christ. Hospitality brings us back to the Gospel. (Duh!) Jesus said that his mission is one that prepares a place for us. Do you not remember him telling us, “In my Father’s house are many rooms”? And, are not these very rooms prepared for us? Jesus continues to explain, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3). The Gospel is therefore the good news that Christ goes before us so that we can follow after him. His death and resurrection grant us our entrance into the heavenly kingdom. The Beiters have offered their home; Christ offers the new heavens and earth! Are you beginning to see why hospitality is so crucial to the Gospel?

In a nutshell, our God is a hospitable God. He cordially ‘saves room’ for us. He is (shall we say?) not satisfied to share his divine glory simply amongst himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but he desires to bring us into fellowship with him as well. In other words, just as Laura remarked that they had excess and so shared it, so also the Lord has (infinite) excess and shares it with us. As the Gospel says, God does this by sending Jesus Christ to prepare the way, to make the paths straight, to point us towards the ‘room’ we have in him. As we die and rise with Christ, therefore, we become fellow heirs with Christ and thus sons and daughters of God! This is true relationship the way it was meant to be—that we partake of the divine glory in Christ. And this is the heart of the Gospel: Christ is a hospitable savior, and he lavishes us with hospitality. He is, then, the hospitality for which earthly examples are merely signs.

The point of this, we should say, is not to discourage those of us who do not share these ‘hospitable’ stories. As Denis and Laura would admit, no one is perfect, for all are sinners. The point is also not to highlight hospitality as we sometimes nearsightedly conceive of it. (Remember those milk and cookies?) The point, on the contrary, is the very thing that this hospitality points towards, namely, the Gospel—for a greater picture of hospitality could not be conceived! Indeed, how dare we think that physical blessings of hospitality are the end of the story. This is like a child confusing the bread and wine with the very blessings themselves, the very body and blood of our Lord. May it never be! The physical blessings are not the end but merely the beginning. If we share the former without the substance of the latter we have shown the Gospel to be useless.

Therefore, as we partake of Gospel hospitality, we remember that there is no greater love than dying to oneself in order to let another live; no greater grace than preparing a place for which you yourself must pay. Is this not why Paul and Peter so closely connect hospitality and love? Is this not why the Beiter’s hospitality is such a wonderful display of the Gospel? And so what Jesus was communicating, and what hospitality means for us today, is a humble and sacrificial love. It is a love that takes in ‘strangers,’ who, though once separated far from Christ, are now brought near; a mercy that relentlessly fails to return a wrong that is owed; and a grace that ceaselessly gives abundantly, even and especially when such generosity is undeserved. This is hospitality as shown in Christ. This is the Gospel

And so we dedicate our lives to God, the same God working hospitality through his Son, the one who was sent, not on his own regard, but for us, dead and helpless sinners; who gathers up a place for us to call our own, making us heirs with him and sons and daughters of God through his Spirit; and who often and incessantly pleads for us even while we vehemently rebel against him.

Our greatest thanks, then, must be to him who is ever more tenacious and determined than even our most deliberate and indomitable efforts against him. Praise God for his hospitality in Christ!

Here are some of the amazing things that God did:

Over 60 medical professionals provided services at the clinic.

Around 115 individuals received services and care.

Over 200 Sojourn volunteers served in a variety of capacities!

Over 15 medical organizations from the community provided services to guests.

The Gospel was preached, sung, prayed and shown in every way possible!

Watch a Video of the clinic here:

We thank God for how He provided the clinic, and how He used the body to serve. We look forward to see what He will do at our next clinic, which will be on Saturday, April 30th!

Our biggest way of communicating to the Germantown/Shelby Park neighborhood is through distributing flyers about the Medical Clinic.

Please come join us on the following days and times to help spread the word! Bring your community group! Meet in the gallery.

• THIS Sunday, January 30 – after each Midtown service
• Monday, January 31 – during Mercy Mondays at 6:30pm
• Saturday, February 5 – 9:30 in the morning, complete with fresh coffee!
• Sunday, February 6 – after each Midtown service
• Monday, February 7 – during Mercy Mondays at 6:30pm