How do we love one another as Christ loves us? How do we fight for the soul of the person beside us from a place of love?  How do we meet the stranger at their darkest moments with the light of holy love? Answer: by our living witness in word and deed—honestly, humbly, hopefully, and with God’s help.

 

Our calling to be a compassionate Christian community is a calling to life.

In both word and deed the witness of our lives reveals the love of God for all; one moment at a time, one decision at a time, one person at a time. 

 

In Christ, our lives have a powerful purpose to serve, a holy way to follow, and a profound peace to share. It is a real hope for the world. With your help, sacrifice, and faith, we will continue this holy work, serving the love of God with passion and conviction so that any seeking God’s love may find it, feel it, and have it for themselves.

 

^“7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God  and knows God. 

⁸  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

⁹  God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son  into the world so that we might live through him. 

¹⁰  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning  sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 

¹²  No one has  ever seen God; if we love one       another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

¹⁶  So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. “

(1 John 4:7-12, 16)
 

“⁴  Love is patient; love is kind; love is not      envious or boastful or arrogant 

⁵  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 

⁶  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 

⁷  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸  Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 

¹³  And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:4-8, 13)

^“8  Above all, maintain constant love for one     another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 

⁹  Be hospitable to one another without  complaining. 

¹⁰  Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. “  (1 Peter  4:8-10)

 

^“9  Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 

¹⁰  love one another with mutual affection; outdo    one another in showing honor. 

¹¹  Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 

¹²  Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 

¹³  Contribute to the needs of the saints;  pursue hospitality to strangers.

¹⁴  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 

¹⁵  Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 

¹⁶  live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 

¹⁷  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 

¹⁸  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”    (Romans 12:9-18)