Sunday Morning Testimony
We ended our Church Membership Month by introducing nine new church members! We asked two of these new members to tell us how being a part of the church has shown them the importance of being a good neighbor—the fourth and final defining aspect of our church culture. Read what they had to say below.
Matt:
Good morning. Melissa and I were asked to share about the neighborliness of the people in this church. We started coming to Sovereign Grace Orange in May this past year after the previous church we were at for 10 years closed. As with all transitions in life, it has been hard to transition from away from that church family.
However, being at this church for the past 9 months has made this much easier for our family. It has been so evident to see the Holy Spirit at work in the joyful, generous, and ordinary neighbors here. We have personally experienced and seen the fulfillment of Galatians 5:14—“you shall love your neighbor as yourself”—in this church for the limited time we have been here. As I reflected on this, I think of 2 primary areas that we have experience this truth: through the neighborly hospitality and intentionality of the people here.
If you reflect on what you may envision a good next-door neighbor to be, some things that come to mind might be caring, kind, and helpful, but I think deep down, we want those really good neighbors to be people who know us and we know well, who we can share life with in its ups and downs. People who have homes that we can send our kids to go play in; people who we share meals with. Being new at this church, we have just begun to glimpse this reality at Sovereign Grace. I think we still sit in the “new neighbors” place, but there has been such great hospitality shown to us. There are so many examples I could share, but I wanted to highlight a few.
Bobby and Alie Westphal invited us into their home for dinner within the first few weeks of being at the church. Then getting to share a meal with Israel and Bethany in their home. I am not sure they know how much this meant to us, as meals shared with members of our old church were something we missed dearly.
Not only in people’s homes, but the time here on Sunday mornings is like a big family gathering, where visitors are welcome but just as importantly, remembered in the weeks to follow.
These were just a few examples of what we could share about how hospitable people are here.
Second, what truly has been overwhelming, in a good way, is the intentionality that members have shown to invite us in as “new neighbors.” Being someone who is naturally more of an introvert, this has been something that God has used to allow us to see the good of His church in a great way. How you all intentionally find ways to love and serve each other is humbling. I wanted to share a few examples of the intentional love and care that we have experienced.
Pastor Dustin invited me to get coffee to discuss the church after the first Sunday we visited.
Being prayed for and encouraged as a teacher before the start of the school year, knowing the specific challenges we face as educators.
Being invited, not sure how many times, to join a small group and now being in one, the active way people pursue to love and support each other. Which has been really amazing.
And lastly, being invited, maybe prodded a bit, to go to Celebration in September, which we are so glad we went to. And the way people went out of their way there to meet us as we were still fairly new.
This is just a small subset of the ways God has worked through the people at sovereign grace to live out the gospel together as neighbors.
Finally, I think of what good neighbors do: they live life together in a way that is saturated, or dare I say as a chemist, super-saturated with grace, generosity, and love towards each other for the glory of God and good of others. And this has been so evident to us the last 9 months we have been here. Thank you.
Melissa:
When I think of the neighborliness of Sovereign Grace church of Orange, I too as Matt shared, think of the hospitality of the body here. But I’d like to also add, their generosity in, the giving of their time. On Sundays, during “the best 3 minute party in OLD TOWN ORANGE”, we had mentioned to a few people our big house news, of purchasing our first home. Upon hearing this exciting news, each person would ask, “when are you moving? And can we help you move?”
We had heard little snippets here and there about the church helping members move but we definitely didn’t have any big expectations. On moving day, the neighborliness of SGCO rang true. A few people who had committed to helping us move showed up that morning. But then, more and more people kept coming. (Did I mention that this day happen to be a rainy and wet day too!?) We were overjoyed to see all the wonderful people that came to help.
When we unloaded, it probably took all of 20 minutes to empty the entirety of our moving truck. We were surprised how quickly and efficiently everything was unloaded and organized into their new places.
The time each person took to come and help us move, in the rain, was a tremendous blessing. Their actions reflected the immense generosity, kindness and the neighborliness of Sovereign Grace church of Orange in the ordinary things of life.
