Our beginnings

I'm not a special-ed teacher. So when we conceived the plan for Merciful Love Family Fellowship, the idea of having a separate class for the kids with a traditional-type service for the parents was scrapped right away. In fact, such an arrangement would have recreated the same difficulty we were experiencing at the former church: how to keep the kids from disrupting the adult service when everyone is meeting together in one relatively small apartment. Having a combined adults & children's meeting would make it more workable for us, by having all the parents available to help their own children learn to participate in the various activities. It also meant that the parents, most of whom would have little or no knowledge of Christianity, could be learning about the Bible in an enjoyable, non-intellectual way. When one of my closest friends, Mrs. Chu, heard about our design for the new church plant, she said, "I want to come to your church!" She had occasionally attended services and special activities at our first church over the past several years, but found things hard to understand. And she liked the idea of her daughter learning to get along with special-needs kids. So they've been coming since the beginning. And Mrs Chu became a believer within the first few months!

None of our other parents have embraced Christ as Savior yet. Yes, we would like to see this happen sooner rather than later, but we are content to let the Holy Spirit work on their hearts through the truth they are hearing as they come back week after week.

So what exactly do we DO? I guess I'll save that for the next post!