Oxford Circle Mennonite Church (OCMC) is an urban congregation in Philadelphia, dedicated to sharing in word and action Christ’s message of love that reconciles us to God and neighbor. Since COVID, we have asked, “How do we bridge the gap between our congregation and our neighborhood?” Through our annual month of fasting and prayer each January, we seek to hear what God is speaking to us and inviting us towards.
One way we bridge the gap has been through Friday Night Live (FNL), a bi-monthly outreach event for middle schoolers, led by high school youth and young adult interns under the leadership of Pastor Tee (Ron Tinsley), our Pastor of Outreach. This space provides a safe, fun place for middle schoolers to build relationships, learn about faith and life, and grow. Our high schoolers are developing leadership skills and putting their faith into practice as they lead games, share devotions, and engage in conversations. Pastor Tee and others from OCMC build relationships with parents, and a prayer team is on site praying throughout each event. Neighborhood parents value this space for their kids, and a few have visited the church. One parent has become a member and is now being mentored in prayer team leadership.
Discipleship Team is another space we created for leadership development, equipping, and outreach. Pastor JoEl Rohrer was instrumental in developing this. While FNL provides space for young and new leaders to practice ministry, Discipleship Team provides these same leaders space for community and equipping. The group included five long-term leaders and twelve newer or younger Christians. As we shared meals every week for seven months, we became family. After the meal, we had discussions and prayer centered around Scripture and tools for knowing God, living in community, loving our neighbors, and sharing Christ. In these conversations, mentoring happened, and newer leaders grew in their confidence in hearing and following Scripture and the Spirit.
As we engaged in neighborhood barbecues and in FNL, we saw skills modeled, practiced new tools we were learning, and debriefed together. While in the past, we had done small group Bible-study, this pilot program convinced us that providing space for our ministry teams to have community and equipping is a powerful model for discipleship and leadership development. This has evolved into a monthly leadership development space that is beginning to dream of more ways to bridge the gap between the congregation and the neighborhood.
– – – Author(s) Bio: Lynn Parks has been Lead Pastor at OCMC since 2019. She and her husband Vandy have one daughter and two grandchildren. Pastor Ron Tinsley has been the Pastor of Outreach since 2021. He and his wife Janelle have four adult children and one grandchild. Lyllian Velazquez has been part of the pastoral team since 2019, bringing strengths in evangelism, prayer, and discipleship. She has three adult children. JoEl Rohrer has also been part of the pastoral team since 2019, bringing strengths in leadership development and discipleship. She and her husband Richard have three children.