In the midst of challenging times and troubling news, the church of Jesus Christ is stepping up to represent the Kingdom of God in many ways…online worship services, meetings via ZOOM and other virtual meeting sites, mailing necessary items to persons in need, etc. Recently the church in Colorado City, TX decided together to tackle many of the issues facing our community, nation, and world.
It all stemmed from an impromptu community wide prayer service on Pentecost Sunday, May 31st in response to the death of a 16 year old girl who overdosed on drugs. At that meeting, which was put together just four days before, more than 80 people participated, and five churches were represented. It took place on the courthouse lawn. We prayed for justice in this young lady’s death, healing for her family and friends, and grace to be brought to all. Since we have prayed, 11 arrests have been made, and the family has received much love and support from Christians in our community.
Instead of the usual “God and Country” gathering, the Mitchell County Ministerial Alliance sense the Holy Spirit leading in another direction…to have another community gathering at the courthouse lawn to seek unity and to pray together as a community over otherwise divisive issues and among groups that seem to be becoming more polarized. “We may not have influence over our nation and world, but, as pastors, we have influence in our churches and community” was the consensus among the pastors who regularly meet to pray together and plan events for Mitchell County and specifically, Colorado City.
We invited many of the county leaders to speak to our current context answering three questions: 1) What challenges are you currently facing in your area of influence? 2) What do you need from the churches in the community? & 3) How can we pray specifically for you? We asked all to be “real” and respectful. Various issues were addressed from systemic racial injustice to struggles and fears faced by law enforcement officers to denominational and ethnic unity to coronavirus to new challenges facing public education. Civic leaders who supported and participated in the event included our county judge, county attorney, county sheriff, county health officer, Colorado City Police Chief, and CISD Superintendent. After each gave a short message, a local pastor prayed over them and their area of influence.
This has opened the lines of communication between our civic leaders and churches. We now receive texts and phone calls from the police chief, sheriff, and county health officer asking for prayers. Fellowship between churches and ethnic groups has opened up further as well. Present that night were “black, brown, and white.” Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals were represented among those at the service. Over 100 participated on-site and practiced social distancing and gave many “air hugs” to each other. Online, over 800 hundred have participated in this event. Our theme was REPRESENT AND RECONCILE based on 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
The churches have also begun planning an outreach and evangelistic event called Light the Darkness, in which we will have “Gospel Meetings” on July 20-22 to clearly present the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to bring more into a relationship with God and plugged into area churches. We are troubled by much of the news we hear, but we are also excited that the Holy Spirit is still moving and using His church to represent God’s kingdom and reconcile people to God and to each other.
Donald A. Ward-Pastor, FUMC-Colorado City, TX