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.

Psalm 133:1 states, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” Since the merger of Open Door and Plowshares in January 2024, we have seen this blessing amongst us. As we live into our reality of being “One Church, Many Expressions” we are finding God at work in our community, our church, and our individual lives.

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

Check out our Updated Website!

 

Grace: The Language of Love

Many Christians define grace as being treated better than what we deserve or being shown God’s favor. I think it is so much more than that. I think grace is the action through which love is perfected. Grace sees the image of God in each person and speaks directly to that. Grace “teaches us” to say no to things that keep us from experiencing the love of God through Christ and in community (the body of Christ)Titus 2:11-12.

Shame tells us to gather up our things, to leave the community, to run and hide. Grace tells us to bring all that we are, to lay down all our things, to lean in and love.

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

What’s Happening?

All Community Gathering Easter Celebration

On Easter Sunday, all of our communities gathered for a time of worship, fellowship, and celebration as we welcomed the Risen Lord into our midst.

Our worship service included all ages in leading, reading Scripture, and decorating our cross as we shared in communion together.

Following the service, many of us shared a wonderful Easter Feast together at the Community Center while some Home Churches gathered in their homes to share a meal together.

 
 

Youth & Young Adults

Our Youth & Young Adult Home Church meets every other Wednesday for a time of worship and learning together. This year our theme was “Seeking Peace” and we looked at what it meant to seek peace with God, with ourselves, and with the world. Our quarterlyYouth Hangout was with Pastor Adam at his home where they played games, watched a movie together, and ate pizza.

This summer our youth helped plan for a number of youth hangouts, camp, and a local mission experience.

Great Lakes Conference Annual Meeting

Each April, the Brethren in Christ churches in the Great Lakes Conference gather for a time of worship and working together for the upcoming year.

This year, Pastor Luke Embree and Home Church member Tim Brown attended in person while other pastoral staff members join the meeting online.

On Saturday morning we had the chance to hear from some familiar voices (Dami & Chi Adeliyi) about the work God has led them to in East Dayton. Dami & Chi attended a Plowshares Home Church for several years before God called them to serve the East Dayton community. Chi serves as the East Dayton Community Development Director and she is currently researching the various types of homelessness in our area as well as the root causes behind themAbove are a few pictures from the gathering. Dami comes alongside her and the other East Dayton staff to help develop a plan for the creation of a nonprofit development corporation which might help them access funds and pull from the expertise of outside persons in pursuing the development of our neighborhood.

 

Eastertide Sermon Series

Our Eastertide Sermon Series (Easter to Pentecost) is following the liturgy and considering what it means to live out the resurrected life, new life in Christ, in our everyday lives. You can find all of our Seven Minute Sermons for Home Churches here.

Pastor Matthew Peterson, GLC Theologian in Residence

Last month, Matthew Peterson led an online “Fan Into Flame” pastoral leaders discussion will explore how the “three steams” of the BIC U.S. theological heritage can equip our congregations to navigate today’s social challenges and divisions. 

The Brethren in Christ have historically been informed by three theological traditions: Anabaptism, Pietism, and Wesleyanism. Matthew shared how (and whether) these traditions continue to influence our churches today is a point of concern for our denominational family. 

BIC & MCC Learning Tour

David Swartz joined with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) on a meaningful learning tour in the Middle East. The tour theme was migration. They got to see project sites, biblical sites related to Abraham, Moses, and the Holy Family, and historic sites related to early Christianity and Islam. A lot of good things happening on issues of relief, development, and peacebuilding! David currently serves as a Brethren in Christ representative to MCC.

Other News & Updates of Interest

BUILD Nehemiah Action

The Open Door community gathered with thousands of other local community members on Tuesday, April 30 in support of the continued work with BUILD to establish a microtransit system in Lexington. Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-Action (BUILD) is an organization of 26 ethnically and economically diverse religious congregations in Lexington. Some local areas have nearly 40% of residents living in poverty. Through congregation-based community organizing, BUILD offers the church a Direct Action method for doing justice through systemic policy change. Learn more here.

Neighborhood Clean Up and Community Center Grant

On April 27, we hosted our regular Neighborhood Clean Up and also planted flowers around the Community Center. We have seen an increase of community use of this building and we are grateful. One community member commented recently “This building is always busy. There is always somebody here!” That is an answer to our prayers and the very reason we built it.

We host a number of NA groups, the local neighborhood association meetings, Pegasus (an intergenerational gaming club with Pancakes, Games, and Things Jesus Says), and more. Once a month, our church gathers to clean our neighborhood and our Community Center to make sure it stays somewhere that we can steward and share well.

Open Door was recently awarded a matching grant up to $2,000 from the BIC Foundation and an additional match up to $500 from the Great Lakes Conference for work that will take place this year to make the building more accessible for our community and allow for some new ministries to begin such as and ESL class and a Children’s Neighborhood Outreach.

Kingdom Life Fellowship

Kingdom Life Fellowship ministers to men in recovery at Revive's Common Groups Resource Center every Sunday and Pastor Luke from Open Door joins them weekly. God is opening the door for this ministry to grow and become a place of worship for those in addiction recovery in the wider community. We invite your prayers and support as this ministry moves forward in 2024.

 

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