The most basic implication of the entire Gospel message of Jesus declares that you belong. This is good news, friends. Getting to the core of this message of belonging requires love. Abundant, scandalous, relentless, love.
It is loving with our whole heart, soul, strength & mind and it looks something like this:
This is the work of placemaking. And this is the work of Ace in the City.
Last week, I unpacked briefly the heart work of placemaking—examining our culture and hospitality. Onward to the soul of this work. Our soul is this glorious thing that radiates beyond us. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. But you can feel its warmth as it permeates the air and all living and nonliving things around us.
The soul work of placemaking centers on our posture & presence and the way in which we live within the larger ecosystem of our community. It concerns itself with these two primary questions:
- How well do I know and love my neighborhood?
- How well does my neighborhood know and love me?
The work of The Way invites us to be in this world, but not of it. While this is true, it oftentimes has led to this unwarranted separation of the church from the daily life of the neighborly ecosystems God has placed us in. This is antithesis to good news; we need to find our way back home.
A church building may be stationary, but its soul doesn’t have to be. It shouldn’t be, in fact, if we’re bearing the good news entrusted to us. It should radiate into the nooks and crannies of our communities, demonstrated time and again in how we partner and collaborate and cocreate alongside our neighbors. Not in what we do for them, but in what we do with them.
This is the soul work of placemaking, and this is the work we are committed to with our neighbors and with you.
Peace Your Way,
