Breaking Ground

A Collection of Stories, Prayers, & Devotions

Breaking Ground is a quarterly newsletter highlighting the work and mission of Open Door Church & Plowshares Home Churches to love God, love others, and share the peace of Christ in and around Lexington, Kentucky.

Each quarter we’ll keep you up-to-date on important news and opportunities in Open Door. We’ll also feature a quarterly theme to help us all grow in our faith as we follow Christ together.

Hello Friends,

It is with great joy that we share with you our quarterly Breaking Ground newsletter and celebrate the good work the Lord is doing here in Lexington.

It is our hope that in sharing these testimonies of God’s faithfulness and presence in our small community, you will be encouraged and excited to join us in prayer, in service, and in sharing the peace of Christ wherever you live. Thank you for being a part of our wider community and supporting us as we grow together.

With great joy,

The Open Door Staff (Adam, Sungbin, Marissa, Luke, and Christina)

Learn more about us here.

 

Keep reading for Community Testimonies, Devotions, & Resources

 

Jesus Is

A devotional practice by Pastor Christina

In Advent, we remember this incredible truth: Jesus is. Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. He is everything we need, in every moment. Take a breath and let that truth settle into your heart today.

Click here for the rest of this quarters’s devotion and spiritual practice

What’s Happening?

A Season of Community

At the beginning of this year, we were so excited to complete the work on our Community Center and we opened it up to the public. We have now hosted recovery groups, children’s outreach events, a Thanksgiving Banquet, a dinner church gathering, our annual All Community Conversation, an Advent Art Studio, a couple of women’s teas, and much, much more! We even have a local family who will be using this space for their Thanksgiving and Christmas family gatherings.

Since opening, the Community Center has been in constant use by the local community and the church community. And we are grateful to the BIC Foundation for approving us for a matching grant that has helped us complete the work necessary to make this the space that is has become.

Pictured here are snapshots from our Advent Art Studio, Dinner Church for local ministers, and Thanksgiving Meal. Read below for more of what God has allowed us to do this quarter!

 
 

Spill the Tea: Women’s Gathering

Out fall Spill The Tea started with faith stories shared around tables of tea and cakes and ended with a chance to create our own artwork, led by Stephanie Peterson. Over a “high tea” style lunch, we shared with each other both spiritual and practical experiences that have helped us grow as women of God. It was truly a beautiful moment of leading with one another.

It’s Bigger than Us: Hurricane Relief & Community Care

In early October, a hurricane impacted communities just south of us Tennesse and North Carolina. Many of our members asked how they could help and we found a way. We were able to send a U-Haul full of supplies to a nonprofit called Poder Emma that was already working with vulnerable populations in Asheville, NC. The U-Haul left on October 12 driven by Mike Grown and we were happy to hear from Poder Emma that the supplies helped reach 30 families in desperate need.

Every month we take the time to spend time in our own neighborhood, cleaning the streets and nearby park and sprucing up our Community Center for the many groups who use the space.

 

Peace on Earth as it is in Heaven

This Advent through Epiphany, join us as we reflect on the peace offered to us through Jesus, our Immanuel, God with us. This follows up on our series this summer where we considered what it meant to experience God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The promised Savior brings us peace in the midst of chaos, rest in the midst of storm, and grace to live as kingdom people no matter what happens around us.

Dinner Church

In late October, a group of local ministers and those interested in Home Churches gathered for dinner church together to consider starting, resourcing, and multiplying Home Churches in and around Lexington.

The Footstool as An Altar

At Open Door, we consider ourselves "One church with multiple expressions." Our Home Churches meets where people live, work, and play. They don’t have pews or pulpits, but they have people and passion and God meets us there. Around tables we discuss scripture, share stories, pray and cry and laugh together. Our living rooms become sanctuaries and our coffee tables altars. And there’s always an open chair for another to join us. Learn more at. https://www.opendoorlex.org/plowshares-home-churches

Other News & Updates of Interest

Sending Out with Our Blessing!

One of the greatest blessings a church can have is to send out beloved members for the kingdom work they are called to. Yesterday we prayed a blessing over the Whyte family who will be leaving us in order to serve as the pastoral family at Oak Ridges BIC Church in Ontario, Canada. We send them with our love, our prayers, and every confidence that He who began this good work will complete it!

Children’s Outreach

This Fall we launched a quarterly children’s outreach using the materials from Messy Church USA which encourages all generations to join together in worship and learning. We’ve had two events, one in August and another in November and we are excited to see this grow.We are grateful to Jennifer Stein for facilitating these endeavors and for the BIC matching grant that is helping to fund our new work in the Community Center.

All Community Conversation (and Chili Cook Off)

Each year we gather as a larger community including our Home Church members for an All Community Conversation where we learn from our community what is going well and where we can grow and our vision for the future. Together we consider the questions below:

  • What went right this year?

  • What was a challenge ?

  • What needs exist that need met?

  • What can we celebrate ?”

This year we combined our conversation with a Chili Cook-off; congratulations to Christina Embree for her prize-winning White Chicken Chili!

 

PRAISE & PRAYER

We invite you to join us as we celebrate the gifts we’ve received and to help shoulder the burdens we carry, visit our website for a regularly updated list of the community’s Praises and Prayer requests here.

Reminder: Where to Find Church News

In addition to Breaking Ground, this monthly newsletter, we also send a shorter News & Notes each Friday which includes information on current events (news) and praise/prayer requests from church family members (notes), check out these important spots for information:

Our prayer letter is part of our quarterly newsletter “Breaking Ground” and available online at https://www.opendoorlex.org/prayer-and-fasting