Brooklyn Park UB Church / Eden UB Church

This morning I got up, and as usual, one of the first things I did was to check my e-mail. Surprisingly, I only had 4 messages and (can you believe it?) NO SPAM! But anyway, I received an e-mail from John Christophel who is the Senior Pastor of Brooklyn Park UB Church near Baltimore, Maryland. The point of the e-mail was to ask other UB churches for support in their creating of an after school program, called UB Lighthouse Youth Mission. I won’t go into all the detail about all the violence and problems right near the church, but there seems to be a great need for this mission. I plan to ask Eden to join other UB’s in helping to assist Brooklyn Park.

After reading this, I got to thinking. I know that can be dangerous for some people like me! I am really impressed with Brooklyn Park’s vision and desire to see this happen. Then I look at the church I pastor. What is our vision? We are still working on that. What is our mission? I still think that is unclear to some of our congregation.
Our mission is to seek and save the lost. Our vision is to love God, love people, and serve others. We do have a set of values and goals that is formed from an acrostic:
Evangelize the Community
Disciple converts & church family
Experience: God
Fellowship with church family
Nurture Leaders and Ministries

I would love to see our congregation at Eden get behind the mission wholeheartedly. I realize that I need to pray and seek God’s guidance to clearly communicate the burden God has given me for lost people.

Now as Paul Harvey says, “Page Two.”
The Reedsville/Hockingport and surrounding communities have a need for the type of program that Brooklyn Park is implementing. We have an escalating drug and alcohol problem. I have dreamed of establishing a mission here, similar to the one at Laurel Mission in Kentucky. But, God will build His Church. Maybe this is not Eden’s time for a “mission”, but rather for us to simply get on task. I thank God for the drive that Brooklyn Park Church has. I pray that they are successful.

P.S. Click here for Brooklyn Park