A Place to Belong | Spiritual Homecomings at The Mission Cincinnati
When Michael Delfín stepped into his first worship service at The Mission Cincinnati, he said it felt like coming home.
While the joyful welcome of friends and strangers was encouraging and the music and sermon were clear and uplifting, what Michael remembers most about that first Sunday was the incredible experience he had receiving communion. Our services take place in a white-washed cinder block room. When it comes time to share the Lord’s supper, the words we say around the table are ancient prayers from the Anglican Book of Common prayer that haven’t changed in centuries. Typically the celebrant (the priest presiding over the table) will offer a few words of reflection connecting the grace we experience in communion with one of the points of the sermon, but there are no pyrotechnics, no emotionally charged stuff, just an ordinary moment. And that’s what makes Michael’s experience so incredible. When he went forward to receive the elements, he recalls powerfully feeling God’s embrace: knowing Christ’s love for him, and sensing deeply in his spirit that this church was the family God was calling him to make home. When he returned to his seat, he realized he had shed tears. He had encountered God powerfully, in a way he could compare to few other moments in his life.
Michael is not alone in this experience of community, welcome, and God’s presence at The Mission Cincinnati. One of our other members, AudrieAna Gardner, when asked what makes The Mission Cincinnati unique responded, “we don’t just talk about God here, we experience Him.” Others have shared similar experiences of being profoundly touched by God at the communion table. Perhaps it is the visual of children from our neighborhood sharing the body and blood of Christ with medical students, retired financiers, neighborhood leaders, and teachers. Perhaps it is the experience of people who used to not know each other from Adam, suddenly finding their lives knit together in a deeply spiritual way. Strangers now serve together and invite each other into their homes. They pray together, they worship together, and as the Apostle Peter wrote of the church in one of his Biblical letters, they are experiencing Christ building their lives together “like living stones to create a spiritual house in which God dwells” (1 Peter 2:5). Or perhaps it is simply Jesus being faithful to His promise that when two or more are gathered in His name, there He will be also (Matthew 18:20). Perhaps it is all of these things.
The result however is clear, people are experiencing belonging together in Christ at The Mission Cincinnati. We don’t all look the same or have the same backgrounds and that is part of the beauty. There is room at the table for all. Our worship services, our Mission Communities, and our ministries of hospitality are some of the ministries you fuel by giving to The Mission Cincinnati on #givingTuesday. We are always excited to make space for the next person to come to Christ, the next person to experiencing the gift of spiritual family, the next person to hear God say in their spirit “Welcome Home.”
If you live in Cincinnati and are interested in what such an experience of worship feels like, you are welcome to join us Sundays at 10 AM at the Evanston Recreation Center (3204 Woodburn Rd. Cincinnati OH 45207). If you have any questions about our church or wish to speak with a pastor, please reach out to us at william@missioncincinnati.org.
"Jesus Really Loves You" | Transforming the Lives of Middle & High School Students One by One
One of the things we are passionate about at The Mission Cincinnati is being a church that builds bridges for the sake of Jesus between resources and needs in our community.
Our neighborhood of Evanston is called "The Educating Community." Why? Because we are home to a 5-star daycare, 3 elementary schools (Evanston Academy, Alliance Academy, and the Academy of World Languages), the top-ranked public high school in Ohio (Walnut Hills High School), and Xavier University. That's a lot of schools in one neighborhood! We would not be good stewards of the Gospel in our community if we were not making every effort to reach these students with the message and love of Christ!
To that end, our church partners with Urban Young Life, even helping to support local missionaries Jake & Emily Wenstrup as they serve to start new Young Life Chapters at Walnut Hills High school and Clark Montessori to reach middle and high school students with the love of Jesus. Here is how Jake describes what he and Emily's ministry has been like far:
"As a new Young Life Staff, I am continuously blown away by the relevancy of the Gospel and the kindness of God's presence admist the darkness of the lives of high school and middle school students. These past months, I have had the privilege to kick start both Young Life (ministry for high school students) and WyldLife (ministry for middle school students) at Walnut Hills and Clark Montessori. I am grateful for a team of 5 other leaders, including my wife, Emily, and a supportive parent base I have had the opportunity to coach cross country at Clark Montessori and tutor athletes at Walnut Hills High School.
God has brought a group of 25 junior high students and 15 high school students at our initial events for WyldLife and Young Life. Together, that equates to over 40 lives weekly that God has put in front of us to faithfully walk alongside. As we have done so, I am reminded of my own experiences as a teenager, longing for someone to step into my life and point me towards truth.
My heart broke hearing a 7th grade boy who shared: "I know who Jesus is and there are lots of people who say 'I love him' and 'he is my life,' but I just don't feel that way." What an honest picture of our youth as they seek to find life in following Jesus. Something I think we are often too afraid to say. Even hearing one 8th grade boy share after hearing a teaching about Jesus coming to Levi's party of tax collectors and sinners: "I only go to church twice a year, but I didn't know that God loved me all the time." God is at work in these schools, even one that sits at the heart of Evanston yet has been long disconnected.
We were witnesses to God moving at YoungLife Fall Weekend through the message of Jesus in our students from Walnut Hills and Clark. We got to hear YoungLife staff share about the God of the Universe coming near to us alongside 600 other students from Greater Cincinnati. What a fun time for the inner city of Cincinnati. Excited to watch what lies ahead!"
We are so excited about what Jake, Emily, and all the Urban Young Life leaders are up to as they share Jesus with students all across our city! Our partnership with Urban Young Life and Gospel impact in the lives of high school and middle school students is one of the many amazing ministries you can support by giving to The Mission Cincinnati this #GivingTuesday!
Want to learn more about our partnership with Urban Young Life? Live in Cincinnati and want to get involved in ministry to high school or middle schoolers? We'd love to talk with you and connect you to opportunities to serve! Reach out to us by emailing william@missioncincinnati.org.
Also, we'd love for you to join us in worship alongside others in this fellowship of missionaries every Sunday at 10 AM at the Evanston Rec Center (3204 Woodburn Ave. Cincinnati OH 45207).
From Fist Fights to Forgiveness | Jesus Makes All Things New
We found out about the fight on a Sunday afternoon.
We were celebrating a baptism in our church when we learned that Demetrius, an elementary schooler, neighborhood resident, and one of our Mission Kids had been beaten up by older neighborhood boys the previous Friday Night in the Rec Center parking lot. His hand had been injured and he would likely have to have surgery. What made this even worse was that one of the kids who had beaten him up was also one of our Mission Kids, an older boy named Elijah who had spent many of the past few weeks learning about God across the table from Demetrius, the boy he’d now beaten up.
We were devastated. We prayed. We brought all of our leftover food to Demetrius’ family that day so they wouldn’t have to make dinner as they cared for their son. We wept over the beauty and the brokenness of our lives and the lives of those in our community. We sought God: “Lord, what are you doing in this? How can we be a part of bringing your healing in this situation?”
A few weeks passed. We rejoiced when Demetrius found out he didn’t need surgery. Just a brace. Demetrius was there every Sunday but Elijah was nowhere to be found.
Then came the week we’d been anticipating for awhile: Demetrius and Elijah both came to Mission Kids on the same Sunday. One of our members, Anne was leading Mission Kids that Sunday. She loves these kids. She had been praying into this situation for weeks. She knew God was up to something. Over the course of the morning she took each of the kids aside for a one-on-one conversation. When she spoke with Demetrius, she talked to him about forgiving people who hurt you, about forgiving Elijah. When she spoke to Elijah she talked about reconciliation, about the need to apologize to Demetrius. God softened hearts that morning. God brought forgiveness and healing into the lives of Demetrius and Elijah. Where there had been pain and hurt, now there was healing and restoration. Jesus makes all things new!
Every week more than 15 kids from our community come to learn about the reconciling love of Jesus through our Mission Kids ministry. This is one of the many amazing ministries that you can support by giving to The Mission Cincinnati this #GivingTuesday! We'd love for every kid in our neighborhood to experience the life-transforming power of the Jesus who makes all things new.
Do you live in Cincinnati? Maybe you not only want to give, but you have kids who'd like to experience this Jesus who helped Demetrius and Elijah reconcile! You're invited to join us each Sunday at 10 AM at the Evanston Recreation Center (3204 Woodburn Ave. 45207) for worship at The Mission Cincinnati! Mission Kids ministry is offered each week for children ages 0-10.
We are always looking for more people who are passionate about loving our children and sharing Jesus with them. If you are interested in helping with Mission Kids or if you just have questions about our ministry or our church, reach out to us at william@missioncincinnati.org.
We can’t wait to hear from you and meet you one Sunday!
What's The Mission Cincinnati All About Anyway?
“This isn’t just a church where you hear ABOUT God, this is a church where you actually EXPERIENCE Him.”
“From everything you guys do in the community, its clear that you believe in church outside the four walls of a building. What you do on Sunday mornings is beautiful but its clear that you see what you do the rest of the week out on the streets as being just as important.”
“This is the first church that I can really say feels like home. I think I want to stay in Cincinnati after I finish my degree just to continue to be a part of what God is doing here…”
These are just a few of the things that members of our church and residents of our neighborhood of Evanston have said about The Mission Cincinnati.
What are we all about?
Well officially, The Mission Cincinnati is an intentionally rooted, creative, diverse, and empowered community of faith seeking to love God and reveal His kingdom by stewarding His goodness, truth, and beauty in our neighborhood, our city and the world.
What does that mean?
It means we’re a church that values place.
We care about playing our part in what God is up to locally in our neighborhood of Evanston and our wider parish of Uptown Cincinnati: everything from OTR and Clifton to Xavier University and Norwood. We value our place by spending time with people where they are: whether that’s hanging out at the Evanston Rec Center, sharing planned and impromptu meetings at coffee shops like Community Blend, Café DeSales, or Landlocked Social House, helping our community put on awesome events like the Evanston Trunk or Treat, a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, or the District 2 National Night Out, or partnering with amazing organizations like Urban Young Life, Intervarsity at UC, the Music Resource Center on Woodburn Ave. or the Evanston Area Council: we desire to be a church FOR our place.
It means we’re a church that values creativity.
A group of artists from our church meets every week in homes to share meals and talk about how God is revealed through writing, music, and the visual arts. We pursue excellence in our musical expression on Sundays, blending the styles of ancient hymnody with contemporary praise choruses and soulful Gospel tunes. We believe God is revealed in beauty. We want HOW we communicate Jesus to have just as much integrity as WHAT we communicate about Jesus.
It means we’re a church that’s intentionally seeking to break down the walls of race, age, and socio-economics that divide our nation.
We are church filled with every generation, a church of many races, and a church where wealthy and poor worship and share life together. Just as Jesus has brought reconciliation between God and man, so He empowers us to share reconciliation with one another.
It means we’re a church led by the authority of God’s Word, connected to Christians across the world and throughout history through the sacraments of communion and baptism, and empowered by the life of the Holy Spirit.
We are charismatic and contemplative, liturgical and spontaneous, reverent and warm, ancient and contemporary. Our worship is nourished by the streams of evangelical faith, liturgical practice, and charismatic expression. We seek to draw the best of all Christian denominational worship traditions together in one beautiful expression.
It means we’re a church, coordinated by God’s mission to share the message of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and salvation with all people even while we work in the world to reveal God’s Kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven.
We not only share our faith in words, but seek to establish justice on our streets. We desire to show mercy to the weak and challenge the affluent to get to their hands dirty in serving our city. We spend time getting to know each other, discerning what gifts God has given each person in our midst, and then seek to empower those gifts so that they can bless and encourage others to the greatest possible extent. The people God brings to us are a great treasure and we seek to love and shepherd everyone who comes in our doors as Christ would.
We’re a young church: we’ve only been meeting for weekly worship for 9 months. We’re a growing church: every week new people join us in worship, share meals with one another in homes, pray together, and wrestle with questions about what it means to love God and His people today, here in Cincinnati. We’re a welcoming church: all are invited to join in worship and experience the life of our community regardless of what you already do or don’t believe. We’re a fellowship of missionaries: our life together is marked by friendship and mutual welcome in community, but also in shared sacrificial service to our world. We’re not a cruise ship, we’re a sailboat: everyone matters, everyone is counted on to get involved! We’re a Christ-centered church: we believe Jesus is the only hope for our world.
Want to learn more about how you can belong, grow, serve, and go as a part of The Mission Cincinnati? You are invited to come and see what God is up to here every Sunday at 10 AM at the Evanston Recreation Center (3204 Woodburn Ave.) Our services last about 1 hour and 20 minutes and involve musical worship, call and response prayer, a powerful and relevant message, and a time of communion. Mission Kids childcare is also available for children ages 0-10. Come as you are! We are a casual bunch.
If you have any questions or would like more information about our church, please reach out to our pastor Fr. William by emailing him at william@missioncincinnati.org.