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.

Dear Church Family,

As we enter 2025, we do so with a vision that has been stirring in our hearts: Generous Community. This year, we will journey together through what it means to imagine, receive, practice, and ultimately live in generosity. What might it look like if our church was known for its generosity—not just in finances but in time, hospitality, service, and love?

Reflecting on God’s Generosity

When we look back over the past year, we can see God’s generosity woven throughout our lives. How have you experienced God’s provision? How have we seen His hand at work in our church? Jesus reminds us in Luke 12 of the rich man who stored up wealth for himself but was not “rich toward God.” Instead of living in fear of scarcity, Jesus invites us to trust in God’s abundance.

Jesus often pointed His followers to creation as a witness to God’s provision. The birds do not worry about tomorrow, and the flowers do not labor for their beauty, yet God sustains them. As we imagine a generous community, we begin by remembering that none of us stand alone. It is God’s generosity that has brought us here. He has given us everything—even His own life.

Trusting God’s Generosity Now

The call to generosity is not just about looking back; it’s about trusting God in the present. Do we believe that God will provide for our needs? That His supply is enough? That we will not “run out of wine” as we follow Him?

Jesus urges us not to chase after food, clothing, and material things but to trust in the Father, who knows our needs. He tells us, Seek first His kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well (Luke 12:31). As we learn to receive God’s generosity, we find freedom from worry and space to live with open hands.

Releasing God’s Generosity

Living as a generous community means we allow God’s generosity to flow through us. We must talk about money—not because it is the only way to be generous, but because it is one of the ways we reflect our priorities. Our church budget, our giving, and our stewardship all tell a story about what we value.

Jesus Himself depended on the generosity of others. He ate at the tables of friends, stayed in the homes of those who welcomed Him, and was supported by women who gave from their wealth. The early church modeled this as well, sharing what they had so that no one was in need.

But generosity is about more than money. It includes our time, our skills, our resources, our homes, and our hearts.

God invites us to be part of His miracles of generosity. We have big dreams ahead: housing projects, BUILD, Hope for Congo, rent assistance, and more. These are not just projects—they are reflections of God’s kingdom breaking into the world through His people.

As we embark on this year of imagining, receiving, practicing, and living generosity, I look forward to seeing how the Spirit will move among us. May we trust in His provision, release His generosity, and seek His kingdom together.

With gratitude and hope,

Pastor Adam

Learn more about us here.

 

Keep reading for Community Testimonies, Devotions, & Resources

 

Dorcas’ Generosity

A devotional practice by Bishop Lynn Thrush

Dorcas was a disciple of Jesus who lived in the important seaport of Joppa. She spent much of her time caring for the poor and widowed in the city. She was beloved by many, so it was a shock when she grew ill and died.

About the same time..

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

What’s Happening?

Gathering and Giving

It is with much gratitude and excitement that we begin our journey through 2025 together. We believe God has given us a big vision of generous community and a commitment to living out our Open Door Church Value Statements in our life together!

 We Welcome Differences

We Stick with Each Other

It’s Bigger Than Us!

We’re Broken but Becoming Whole

The Bible is True and Jesus is the Way.

A Note of Thanks: Last year, we applied for and received a matching grant of $2,000.00 from the Brethren in Christ Foundation and $500 from the Great Lakes Conference for our Community Center and the many activities that take place there including our NA/AA groups, the Neighborhood Association, Messy Church Children's outreach, and many community gatherings, meals, and celebrations. We are grateful for their support!

Pictured here are snapshots from our Hanging of the Greens, our Lunch Bunch Home Church and the Lexington MLK March for Freedom.

 
 

We Stick Together: Vision Sunday 2025

Our Vision Sunday was a beautiful gathering of community in worship and wonder as we considered together what the Lord holds for us in 2025. Many thanks to Pastor Adam for his inspiring message on generosity, to Emily Reina Kerkhof for the home baked bread, and to everyone who brought soup to share.

Our vision is one of Generous Communiy and over the year we will imagine together what that looks like, how we can receive it, how we can practice it, and how we can live in it together!.

With Gratitude

In December, we had the chance to honor and recognize Miss Vicky and Miss Sally for their many years of love and service at Open Door and in the Lexington community. Miss Vicky has been serving the youngest children for 34 years and has helped welcome 19 refugee families to Lexington, especially helping with reading and learning how to integrate into American life. Miss Sally has served with Open Door for 30 years in areas ranging from Awana clubs and children’s church to finances and accounting. She has also worked for the Lexington Leadership Foundation for 25 years, serving the community at large. We are blessed beyond measure to have these women as part of our church family

Sharing Joy in Song

During the Christmas season, a group of carolers from Open Door visited two of our local assisted living facilities to spread of the joy of the Lord through song. Members of both of these communities attend Open Door regularly and it was a blessing to have the chance to visit their home.

Youth & Young Adults

Our annual Youth Christmas party was combined with our quarterly service project - we baked dozens of cookies to share with our neighbors and after we packaged them, we took time to pray for our neighbors and our families that we would see over the holidays. In January, we enjoyed a wonderful time of ice-skating at the local rink and some even took to the ice for the very first time!

 

LENT 2025

Lent is a season of lament, a time where we reflect on our need of a Savior and the brokenness of the world around us. But, in spite of that reality or maybe because of it, we find hope at work, under the surface, deep in the mud, weaving the story of new days, new growth, and new life. Life IS hard but HOPE is here and we find our hope in Christ alone.

Other News & Updates of Interest

Rooted: Engaging the Kingdom of God in the kingdom of this world

Open Door Home Church pastor, Matthew Peterson, also serves as the Brethren in Christ theologian-in-residence. In that role, he has written an excellent article the good news of God meet us in the social and political realities of the days as we live as people of God’s kingdom. The gospel of Jesus and his kingdom is extraordinarily good news! You can access a copy HERE.

Children’s Outreach

Last 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 have planned a quarterly gathering of Messy Church starting in February and we are hopeful to see more of our neighbors join us. 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.

Neighborhood Clean-Up

Each month, we gather to clean our neighborhood and welcome our community to use our community center. We are always so grateful for those who show up to put in the work of hospitality.

 

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