“What are Deacons?” We get asked this question often at Park, so we thought we’d take some space to let you know that we’re here to help and to serve you.

A Deacon at Park is a Christian, mature in their faith, who strives to embrace and demonstrate integrity in all aspects of their life. Deacons provide confidential prayer, compassionate care and resourceful connection for the emotional and spiritual, physical and financial needs of those at Park.  No need is too small or too big.

You can contact a deacon anytime by calling 312.361.0533 or email deacons@parkcommunitychurch.org

Or if you have a prayer request or would just like to be contacted by a deacon click here.

Click here to meet all of our deacons and to learn more about the resources that are offered through our discover ministry.

“A few days ago I was on campus sharing the Gospel with a student. I asked her what she thought the nature of God was like, and she said she was a monotheist…When I asked her why she chose that answer she replied, “I believe this because I have always gone to church with my family and I am a Christian”. I told her I think it is great that she goes to church but asked if she personally believed in God. To my surprise she was very honest and said that she doesn’t believe in God. I was very confused now. So to clarify I asked her what she would say it means to be a Christian. She told me, “To be a Christian is to believe that there is something, be a good person, have faith, but you do not have to believe in God”.”

While doing ministry in Ljubljana (pronounced “lyoo-blyana), it is typical to get responses like this.  We meet many students who self-identify as either atheist or “Christian” atheist.  Taking students through the Gospel message and bringing them to a point of decision generally takes weeks and months of repeated conversations (over coffee, of course), answering wide-ranging philosophical and apologetic questions.  Most people have never read any portion of the Bible before, nor have any idea what the central claims of Christianity are, despite the countries historical Christian roots.

Slovenia is a small and incredibly beautiful country, yet statistics and experience show that the spiritual condition of this nation is dark.  Church leaders estimate around 1,000 believers in this nation of 2,000,000+, putting the evangelical population at about 0.1% of the population.  You may be surprised to hear that there are fewer believers per capita in Slovenia than in most of the countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia or Iran!

Although it can get discouraging to encounter so many college students far from God with little interest in learning more, we are seeing God do some pretty incredible things here.  Students are willing to have repeated get-togethers to discuss Jesus, or come to our Alpha course, even when they don’t even realize that they are seeking.  It is so apparent that God truly pursues people and calls them to Himself.  Our ministry to students at the University of Ljubljana began not quite three years ago, but we are now starting to see the beginnings of a movement.  In the last 6 months alone, we’ve seen 9 women place their faith in Christ!  We’re starting to see students, many of which have become believers in the last few years, begin to lead events and share their faith on campus with their peers.  And, starting this week, we have around 8-10 Slovene students who will be participating in a 5-week “mission project” right here in Ljubljana.  It’s fun to see students filling out our student center for events and Bible studies, but it’s even more fun to see God changing lives and then using these students to reach others.  That is our desire here; that God would raise up student-laborers who would have a multiplying ministry at their university while they’re students, and in whatever setting they find themselves in after college.

In November, we will be hosting a short-term Park team here in Ljubljana, where we will work side-by-side to continue to reach college students with the Gospel.  One advantage you have as a Park Church-goer is that you are already accustomed to living and working in a city that carries many of the same attitudes and questions about Christianity that we find here in Ljubljana.  If it excites you to think about what God could do through students to reach all of Slovenia with the Gospel, we would love to have you join us for that week!

Click here to learn more about Park’s short-term team going to Slovenia.

My name is Melissa Rike and I am a member of Park and one of Park’s supported Global partners.  After spending 3 ½ years in Chicago, I moved to Slovenia to work with the student ministry CRU.  If you have any questions about life and/or ministry in Slovenia, feel free to contact me anytime at melissarike@gmail.com.  

If you were at our Near North or Lincoln Park Campus this past weekend you heard Jackson read a Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision. We wanted to make this available for your personal reflection this week.

Lord Jesus,
I am blind, be thou my light,
ignorant, be thou my wisdom,
self-willed, be thou my mind.
Open my ear to grasp quickly thy Spirit’s voice,
Melt my conscience that no hardness remain,
Be my good shepherd to lead me into the green pastures of thy Word,
and cause me to lie down beside the rivers of its comforts.

Fill me with peace, that no disquieting worldly gales may ruffle the calm surface of my soul.
Thy cross was upraised to be my refuge,
Thy blood streamed forth to wash me clean,
Thy death occurred to give me a surety,
Thy name is my property to save me,

By thee all heaven is poured into my heart,
but it is too narrow to comprehend thy love.
I was a stranger, an outcast, a slave, a rebel,
but thy cross has brought me near,
has softened my heart,
has made me thy Father’s child,
has admitted me to thy family,
has made me joint-heir with thyself.

O that I may love thee as thou lovest me,
that I may walk worthy of thee, my Lord,
that I may reflect the image of heaven’s first-born.
May I always see thy beauty with the clear eye of faith,
and feel the power of thy Spirit in my heart.

AMEN

Jackson also mentioned 3 books that could help us elevate our view of Jesus. 

• The Cross of Christ – John Stott
• The Jesus I Never Knew – Philip Yancey
• Redemption: Accomplished and Applied – Murray

You can get audio, video, and teaching notes from Jackson’s message by clicking here.

Words cannot describe the power and humbling nature of the outreach concert. Our friends at the church did an awesome job getting the word out to all of the other churches and we also handed out fliers on the streets. But none of us really knew what to expect for turn out.

The venue at the Maltepe Cultural Center

God came through and blew our minds in so many ways. The venue contained about 400 seats, and we were at about 90% capacity! Keep in mind the size of the Christian church — only around 5,000 Christians pushing forth the gospel in all of Turkey, and the church is pretty tight-knit. Everyone knows each other. The church leaders said about 40% of the people in attendance were not from the church! We even had representation from a few government officials in the crowd. Praise God!

Worshipping God in multiple tongues

During the concert, one of the pastors gave a great message about Easter and shared the gospel. Markus did an awesome job of sharing what it means to worship God through music. In Muslim culture, music doesn’t really play a role in worshiping Allah. It’s a totally different concept to them, and it was so great to be able to share what that is like — to worship God and sing praises to him through music.

We sang several songs in Turkish, the first one in Turkish was Here I am to Worship. When they realized we were playing in Turkish, everyone started singing and clapping along so loudly — it was one of the most precious moments of the entire trip. You could just feel God’s presence throughout the venue — it was so moving to be able to sing God praises in another language with our brothers and sisters in Turkey. Words cannot describe! Click here to watch some of the concert.

During the week before the concert, our friend Melis from the church worked with Evan on the Turkish lyrics and pronunciation. She served us all week and was an absolutely incredible blessing to us. Melis is also a musician and has an incredible voice. We invited her and Gizem, an amazing cellist we met at the church, to play and sing with us at the concert. It was so great to be able to sing and play music to praise God together. Music brings people together and unites people, but there is an exponentially stronger bond that is created when coming together as a global church for one purpose — to praise and serve The Lord.

We also played at their Sunday service, which was a total blessing to come together with the people of the church to worship God. Afterward we met more people from the church which was such an honor!

Please Pray for Turkey

We are still processing and praying about the experience God gave us in Turkey, and I think I can speak on behalf of the rest of the band that God truly changed and worked in all of us through this experience. It redefined and deepened our understanding of what it means to worship God through music.

We saw first hand a glimpse of the struggles and hardship of what it means to be a Turkish Christian in a Muslim country. We also got just a glimpse of what it is like to grow a music ministry in a small, but growing church. And we got to see how God is really working in Turkey. We continue to lift up our friends in the Turkish church, and pray for God to reveal to us how we and Park can serve the church in Turkey in greater ways. We ask so greatly that you would do the same.

The anniversary of the death of three Turkish martyrs

April 18th was the anniversary of the day that three Turkish Christian men were martyred in 2007.

They were the first modern martyrs in the Turkish church. The church and its leaders in Turkish have asked and called their Christian brothers and sisters around the world to observe this day in prayer for the Turkish church. Please visit www.prayforturkey.com for more details about the martyrs and how you can pray for Turkey.

Rab seni bereketlesin! (God bless you!)

Devan

The Turkey Band & Donna

Below you will find an introduction to the book of Hebrews, which gives more detail on the author, audience, and title of the book. You can find this introduction to Hebrews as well as the complete Hebrews study to go through personally or with your small group by clicking here.

Author, Audience, and Title
The author of Hebrews neither names himself nor clearly designates his audience. The traditional title “to the Hebrews” reflects the ancient assumption that the original recipients were Jewish Christians. The author’s identity has been a matter of significant conjecture throughout church history. In antiquity, authorship was attributed to figures such as Barnabus or especially Paul. However, several of the most astute church fathers recognized considerable differences in style and method of argument between this book and Paul’s named writings. Scholars have suggested other possible authors, such as Clement, Luke, or Apollos. However, most today concede that this author remains anonymous. It seems that the judgment expressed by Origen (d.c. A.D. 254) remains correct: “Who actually wrote the epistle, only God knows” (cited in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6.25.14).

The author clearly knew his recipients and longed to be reunited with them (Heb. 13:19). They had a mutual friend in Timothy (13:23), and probably this was the same Timothy who ministered alongside Paul. The author was presumably male, since he refers to himself using a masculine participle (see 11:32: “would fail me to tell”). Since “us” included the author in 2:3 (the salvation “attested to us by those who heard”; also 2:1), it appears that he was not an eyewitness of Jesus. The author passed on the greetings of those “from Italy” (13:24). Scholars debate whether he was in Italy writing to the church elsewhere or was outside Italy (though accompanied by Italians) and writing back to an audience in Italy (possibly at Rome).

You can find this introduction to Hebrews as well as the complete Hebrews study to go through personally or with your small group by clicking here.

We returned from Turkey a few weeks ago as part of a music-focused mission trip to Istanbul, Turkey. Needless to say, while we were there we were quite busy and weren’t able find the time to send blog updates, but wanted to share our experience with Park!

Feeling the gravity of the work God set before us

Our first day in Turkey we met with the church leaders to discuss the concert, workshops, logistics, schedule for the week and work out all of the details. We didn’t know prior to arrival that the outreach concert we came to do was really the first of its kind in Turkey…ever.

Picture from the meeting having çay (tea)

Checking out the (beautiful!) church for the first time

The church actually had to get special permission from the local government to even put on the concert. It was a huge step that it even was approved — praise God! It is not very often that we have the chance to be the pioneer of something. It was incredibly humbling to all of us to do this work for God.

Working with the church musicians

We conducted two workshops with musicians from 3 different churches in Istanbul. Keep in mind that only one Christian church in the entire city is legally recognized by the government as a “church.” All of the other churches are viewed as “organizations” or “clubs” in the eyes of the government because of the red tape involved. We played a few songs to open up the workshop and talked about the biblical meaning of worship, what it means to worship God through music, and what our responsibilities are as music leaders to lead the church into worship to God.

In the second workshop we focused on trying to address some of the issues the musicians in the church face. We were able to discover some practical resources Park could provide the music ministry in Turkey. It also showed us many ways we can pray for their music ministry. We had an attack from the enemy during the workshop and ran into some tech problems with the church’s sound system, but it didn’t stop us! In fact, it allowed us to teach some of the musicians about the sound system since they haven’t had much training with it.

More updates from our Turkey Team are coming soon. In a future blog post we’ll have pictures of the outreach concert along with a video as well.

On Thursday March 28, 2013, the Kibera team and volunteers from both Narobi Baptist Church (NBC) and the Chemi Chemi Clinic spent the afternoon visiting a primary school in the heart of Kibera.  Our goal was to deliver gifts to the students of Makina Primary School (including soap, undergarments, and hygiene products), while discussing personal hygiene topics and the importance of educational and personal goal-setting.

This school was started 20 years ago by a women’s self help group in Kibera who wanted to ensure their children had access to solid education. Over the years, the school has grown to over 400 students, fulfilling their motto of “Education For a Better Tomorrow.” The Makina school had a lush exercise yard and 4 beautiful new classroom buildings, recently constructed through the generous efforts of Newtas International in February of 2013, who believed in the school’s vision (Newtas is a water, sanitation and hygiene and environmental services organization.)

New School

Old School: Makina Self-Help Primary School is situated in Kibera. Some classrooms are made of corrugated iron

As the team gathered outside the school masters office, we initially thought we would enter into each building individually to discuss hygiene with the children. Soon, as buildings emptied and all the children began to gather on the exercise yard, our hearts quickly realized we were going to be giving an all-school assembly!

The assembly began with an introduction of our team…then the kids welcomed us with amazingly beautiful singing! (Video above). After the terrific songs, our NBC team was able to share a Gospel message with the students, then we split the students into boys and girls groups. For the girls, the 3 nurses on the team discussed proper hygiene techniques, while our non-medical team discussed the importance of studying hard and personal goal-setting. Brandon and the other male volunteers from NBC and the Chemi Chemi clinic discussed the same topics with the boys. After each break out session, we passed out the undergarments, soap, and personal hygiene products to the older kids. The children were grateful for our gifts and this allowed us to have some individual conversations as well as Q&A and playtime with some of the students .

What a joy to share our love, Park’s love and our Heavenly Father’s love through the gifts donated by the generous people back home in Chicago!

Thank you on behalf of these wonderful, sweet, joyful children of Kibera!

Yesterday was Kibera Sanitation day. To say the day day began with trepidation and anxiety would be a huge understatement. No one was looking forward to the work. Being with a bunch of medical folks, just as you can imagine, all the focus was on the diseases and toxicity that we would likely encounter. However the team rallied and fought the good fight with courage and an attitude of service. We donned our masks and gloves, picked up our shovels, brooms and waste bags and went out into Kibera armed with prayer for strength, health and a heart for the people of Kibera. We prayed that the people would not see our efforts as such that we’re trying to fix Kibera and instead they would see the hands, feet and heart of Elohim: God their creator, El Roi: the God who sees even them and Johovah Raphael: the God who heals.

As we set out and surveyed the enormity of the trash, sewage and sanitation issues before us, it was hard not to feel defeated before we began. We pressed forward and with every shovel full, sweep of the broom and bag we filled it seemed there were more and more layers of garbage. In fact it seemed if we cleaned out all the trash, Kibera might just cave in on top of itself as it seemed the frame and foundation were nothing but garbage. It seemed futile. Yet as we worked and prayed for God to keep us motivated and focused, He showed us many parallels between our work in the physical world and His work in the spiritual world. Yet as we began it seemed impossible just as it must have seemed to Jesus when He set out to begin the work of the gospel in this world and even in our own hearts. As we worked we found layers upon layers upon layers of trash. Again we noted the similarities between the work we were doing and the work the Holy Spirit is doing in our hearts as we surrender ourselves to Him daily. No matter how far He digs there seems to be more for Him to redeem and sanctify. So we continued to work towards our goal to clean the areas leading up to and surrounding the Blue House and while it is not perfectly clean, it is a start although we are not in perfect harmony with God on this side of heaven, the work of The Lord in our hearts and lives continues.

We went to bed last night with our hearts comforted by the knowledge that at one time our lives looked like Kibera, full of layers of filth, stained by sin, infected by the disease of disobedience. But because of the love of Christ, friends, family and the community of God’s people who walked along side of us, we were saved from the oppression of the poverty of our spirits and since that day The Lord has been at work in us refining and renewing our hearts and minds. What seemed hopeless yesterday morning is replaced with hope for Kibera that The Lord and His people will not grow weary and will continue to serve Kibera, continue the effort to renew their hearts and minds and to show the way of true freedom not just from the oppression of economic poverty but also from the bondage of spiritual poverty.

We saw signs of light as some residents saw what was happening and joined us in our work, they seemed renewed in spirit and invigorated by the redemptive result of the clean up efforts. We saw others who moved aside to allow us to clean, some who asked us to clean their area and yet did not join us. We had others snicker, hiss, and even blatantly disrupt our work by throwing trash down right in front of us. Yes, it was hard work, yes it was overwhelmingly sad and yes even frustrating, however we rest in the word of God which gives us hope for our futures and the future of Kibera because of what The Lord has done, is doing and will do…. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

We woke up this morning with praise on our lips for El Sali: God of My Strength, who kept us going yesterday and continues to provide more strength and courage than we could ever muster up on our own. We have seen the character of God revealed this week and we are confident in our faith in the one true God, in El Shaddai: The All-Sufficient God, in El Olam: The Everlasting God and in El Elyon: The Most High God.

As we set out today to visit the homebound sick and the schools this afternoon, we are petitioning God on behalf of the precious souls we will encounter today, that they would see physical and spiritual evidence of Jehovah Shammah: The Lord Is There for Me (them), El-Channun: The Gracious God and El Hanne’eman: The Faithful God.

Arrival to Nairobi
The entire team has finally recovered from jet lag. We departed from Chicago on March 22nd at 11 PM. After 16 hours of air travel and a three hour layover in Turkey, we arrived in Nairobi at 3 AM on Palm Sunday. The team was greeted by members of Nairobi Baptist Church who drove us to Biblica where we could catch a couple hours of sleep and freshen up before celebrating Palm Sunday at Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC). After the service we met our host families and other members volunteering in Kibera. We thank God for a safe, smooth flight to Nairobi and our generous and super loving host families.

Tour of Kibera
On Monday the entire team took a tour of Kibera. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, measuring about 1 square mile. It is home to around 1.5 million people. Within the first few steps of entry to Kibera the disparity is obvious. However, the strong sense of community and pride in their homes and businesses is resounding. The Chemi Chemi Medical Clinic in Kibera is in partnership with NBC and The volunteers at the clinic are residents of Kibera. These volunteers are working hard to improve the conditions of their community while sharing the message of Christ with the people of Kibera. While the sights, sounds and smells of slum life were overwhelming it was also a place of hope as we witnessed the joy of God’s people in this place. We know God is sovereign even over Kibera and the economically disadvantaged globally. We are reminded of Psalms 9:18, “For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. “(ESV)

Conducting Evangelism Explosion training inside the Kibera slum for Kibera residents, Nairobi Baptist Church members, and Park team.

Evangelism Explosion
Evangelism Explosion training was hosted on Monday and Tuesday at the Blue House. This training prepared members of the church in Kibera and our team on how to share God’s word effectively and lovingly. Our team was able to participate on Tuesday and during this time we participated in “field work” consisting of 10 teams comprised of 5-6 people including adults and youth of NBC, Blue House members, pastors from other churches in Kibera, and our team. our We shared the Gospel with 60 residents of Kibera and invited them to attend service at the Blue House. The time spent sharing was incredibly exciting and uplifting. The teams learned to put 1 Peter 3:15 into practice, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” (NIV). And even though the Evangelism Explosion training is over the team still has many opportunities to share the word of God. Near North Campus Pastor, Brandon Sanchez reminds our team daily to “Keep our spiritual antennas up” for opportunities to share.

Brief and wonderful history of the Blue House
The Blue House is NBC’s daughter church plant in Kibera. The Blue House was an unplanned church plant for NBC. It began as a bible study hosted at the Chemi Chemi Clinic for its volunteers. News traveled throughout Kibera about the bible study and the attendance grew. People started asking for bible classes for children too. Then requests for a NBC church plant in Kibera were made. Two years later the Blue House became a place of worship for the people of Kibera. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.” (Isaiah 12:5 ESV)

Things to come
Over the next few days the team will do maintenance work on the Blue House, sanitation clean up in and around the Blue House, assist with a soccer tournament, and help facilitate an open clinic day at the Chemi Chemi clinic.

We thank you for your prayers and support. Please to continue to pray for:

• The team members’ health (so far everyone has remained illness-free)
• Safe travel for our Kwale squad (half the team departs to the coast for two days)
• Courage and wisdom when witnessing to the people of Kibera
• Our host families and Nairobi Baptist Church
• The growth of the Blue House and the people of Kibera

This is an exciting time to serve in Kibera as we see that God is doing a “Nu Thang” (DC Talk, circa 1990) here in Kibera.

We will send/post another update about the work being done in Kibera and Kwale as well as pictures in the next couple days.

- Kenya Team