Hello friends and neighbors! My name is Savannah and I am currently working at Emmanuel as our Community Children and Family Coordinator!  I have been attending Emmanuel for just over 2 years after stumbling upon it by way of Google maps and some crazy coincidences. Needless to say, something grabbed hold of me that day and I never left. I am so grateful for the beautiful community of friends that I have found here.

I have been thinking a lot about “church” lately. About what that word means and how we are to live as an extension of Christ’s kingdom. What does it really look like and are we living that out like God intends and desires? So often I have to remind myself that I am the church. We are the church. It is easy to talk about it in a removed, third person sort of way. But church isn’t something outside of us or something to criticize without first looking in the mirror. Church is a community of broken, prideful people. We often screw things up and I am constantly amazed that God chose to use such a fallen people and system to be a reflection of his kingdom.

With that said, it feels like a tall order to be working in a church community when so often we fail and have to start over. Yet my desire is to be Christ’s love to our community, particularly to the families and children who surround us. I want to get to know our neighbors and learn how to best live alongside them. I believe it doesn’t take some big event or revolutionary idea to do what Christ asks.

From now until Christmas I want to facilitate some small actions and events that gently whisper to our community that we are here and we care. As a continuation of a project we started last year, I am excited to see PlaySpace get going again. PlaySpace consists of opening up our gym one Saturday morning a month for families to come play with their children in a warm, safe environment. Parents get to enjoy coffee and conversation while their children get to explore a new environment with fresh toys and people to play with. It is a simple event that is meeting a simple need. And we always have a great time doing it! Something else to keep a look out for are some cool opportunities to serve our city over the Christmas season. These will be very tangible ways for anyone and everyone to get involved in impacting our neighborhood during this beautiful season.

I am excited to continue learning and experimenting and growing and seeing where God takes us as a church community in the coming year!