An Inkling
Everyone I meet from East End Fellowship is passionate, and in a most winsome way.
What’s East End? You can check out the particulars at eastendfellowship.org. But the short of it is that it’s a church that’s more than a church – it’s a Christ centered community – in the east end, on Church Hill. It’s a combination of people who have long since lived there, mostly African American, and people who have moved there to be with them, mostly Anglo. It’s not a community in the sense that they all live in shared housing and have a common purse, although there is much sharing of living space and resources. It’s a community in that they are centered on Jesus Christ, and they are proximate to each other. That means that their lives intertwine in multiple ways – not just on Sunday mornings, but by sharing meals, hanging out together, engaging common neighborhood concerns, and so on.
Living close to each other is not the only way to do ministry, but it’s one lovely and biblical way. And it produces a passion that’s hard to duplicate with groups whose gathering is only occasional, and who have little in common otherwise.
East End folks have found their place. They are centered on Jesus with each other. Where’s your place? Think neighborhood. Your place can be geographic. But it can also be a social circle, professional network, or common pursuit. It can be any “place” where you live day in and out.
What does it look like to be a Christian in that place? Or better yet, what would it look like to be centered on Christ with others in that place? Passion comes with being so placed.
Blessings,
Keith
