Different congregations. Different backgrounds. One song. One gospel. One Savior. A van in the parking lot. Meals on the tables. Pastors shoulder to shoulder. And broken sinners being welcomed into the family of God.
That’s how Pastor Arthur Gonçalves of Restoration Church in Sanford described a recent outreach event that found his church and three others working together for God’s kingdom. The event offered him a foretaste of what Heaven will be like, he wrote in an article on the church website, and a blueprint of what can be accomplished when churches unite and work together, rather than separately.
On a recent Thursday, he arrived at Central Church for Freeway Sanford, a midweek outreach service aimed at reaching the hard to reach in Sanford with the gospel of Jesus Christ, one broken life at a time. He was excited to see the churches working together for this ministry.
Markham Woods Presbyterian Church, led by the Rev. Joe Wendorph, brought more than 60 meals that evening, helping to ensure hungry men and women were fed before they were preached to.
A new partner, Lifeway Community Church in Sanford, another Southern Baptist church plant led by Pastor Gerald Brown, had showed up to serve. It was a full Lifeway takeover, with their worship team leading the group in song, their members serving meals, and Pastor Gerald preaching the Word.
Later they got to hear the testimony of Philip, who is the second graduate of the one-year Freeway Sanford men’s recovery discipleship program. A year ago, he was a broken life in need of grace, but on this night he testified to the transforming power of the gospel. He spoke of repentance, of Christ’s mercy, of the slow and steady sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Philip’s story is a testimony to the partnership of churches working together in this ministry. Watching the churches serving together that night was “the kingdom of God on display,” Gonçalves said.
“At the end of the night, I sat quietly and looked around the room,” he wrote. “I saw Central members. Lifeway members. Restoration members. I saw pastors praying together. Volunteers linking arms. Worship leaders lifting one voice. And I saw lost people responding to the gospel, walking forward for prayer, kneeling at the altar, confessing sin, seeking Christ.”
He was reminded of John 17:21 – Jesus prayed, “that they may all be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
In yet another act of partnership, Lifeway presented the ministry with a new $25,000 passenger van that night, wrapped with “Freeway Sanford” across the side. That vehicle will now go into neighborhoods across Sanford, picking up needy neighbors, families, and children, bringing them to hear the gospel and returning them home safely.
“That van is more than transportation,” Gonçalves said. “It is a banner. It proclaims unity. It declares that the gospel is bigger than any one congregation. It is a rolling reminder that when churches lay down small kingdoms, the kingdom of heaven advances.”
This type of partnership in Sanford is a great example for other churches.
“If we long to see lasting kingdom impact in our cities, the path is clear. We must partner together” he writes. “Church planters and established churches. Large congregations and small. English-speaking and Spanish-speaking. Baptist and Presbyterian. Historic and newly planted. Surrounded by shared first-tier convictions and united around Christ, we can do far more together than we ever could alone.”
Read the full article here
