God is holy, and sin is serious. But His love for sinners abounds in Christ Jesus.

Where our church is located, it’s a community that’s largely Spanish-speaking immigrants, many of whom are very poor. And so we’ve had to think, how do we, as a people who don’t speak Spanish, reach out to this community.

The work is difficult . . . at times it’s frightening. . . . I think, more cynically, there’s not much money to be made, and not a lot of resources flowing back into those communities.

I think growing local churches is the key to ministry in needy communities because it’s the key to ministry everywhere.

There are a lot of unconscious signals or subtle signals that churches send that let people know whether you’re merely tolerated here or whether you’re actually welcome to be among us.

I think most Christians don’t know how to go about sharing the gospel in a way that makes sense. And they don’t know how to go about helping someone grow in Christ, period. But I think when you add in the distance that many middle-class Christians feel culturally from people who are in poor societies, […]

Poverty can be a tricky thing to get your mind around. Our church’s ministry brings me (Mike) into contact with different kinds of people in need. In one suburb nearby, we distribute food to Latin American immigrants who may not have the legal standing to pursue government assistance. In another suburb, we work with people […]