1st Love extending around the world.
Perhaps the most common question when meeting someone for the first time is some variation of “What do you do?” or “Where do you work?” Typically, the answer to that questions then becomes a label that we use to associated that person with a type or work or employer. “She’s an accountant” or “He is a teacher” or “they work for the government” are phrases we often hear when describing a person.
The same is true when it comes to the expression of our faith. A very common question that is often posed when people of faith meet up for the first time is “where do you go to church?”. People then get labeled as “they’re a Westsider” or “he’s a Catholic.” But at Westside, we believe that is the wrong question. The church is not a building or a location but rather it is a body of Christ-followers living out their faith journey in community with one another.
Recently we were able to extend part of the Westside body across the globe and share this perspective with people interested in establishing faith communities in Kallur, India. In February 2017, over 40 people came together to discuss strategies and learn tactics for reaching out to people who may have never heard about loving Jesus, sharing Jesus, and becoming like Jesus.
Jason Morris, Global Innovations Pastor at Westside Family Church, shared one of the Westside models for establishing new faith communities. Westside has several different approaches for establishing new groups of Christ-followers, a work also known as “church planting.” In India, the model leverages work already being done by Westside in orphan care centers as a basis for new communities. It is expected that each new community of faith will provide care to orphans as a regular, healthy expression of their love for Jesus. Believers in each community also share Jesus with others and become like Jesus by serving orphans and meeting tangible needs.
Westside is excited to share this model with our partners in India and other parts of the globe. God has blessed the efforts to build community by serving “the least of these” and we eagerly expect to see 50 new faith communities established in India by the end of 2018. If you would like to learn more about our efforts in India and around the globe or find ways to become involved in orphan care, go to www.westsidefamilychurch.com/globalimpact or contact Sherri at sreishus@westsidefamilychurch.com
