The last couple of weeks have been a reunion of sorts. After more than two months of not being able to gather as a church, we are able to have services again. Church looks different than it ever has, but even with the changes, it is good to be back together. With social distancing requirements, face masks, no group singing, and no fellowship in the coffeehouse after service, it is clear that things have not returned to the regular routine. But that is okay.

It is nice to be back together and somewhat have church as usual. But there is a danger of the church getting into too much of a routine. This current situation may just be helping to prevent that. It is easy to allow your Christianity and church involvement to slip into autopilot which requires little thought, little seeking good for direction, and little reliance on the Holy Spirit. If nothing else the last few months have served to prevent us from following our regularly scheduled program.

A Message to the Church

Sundays we have been continuing through the book of Revelation. It’s the last book of the New Testament that we have to go through verse by verse as a church. We are currently going through the letters written to the seven different churches in chapters two and three. These are letters written to churches with a message directly from Jesus. Each church is different, some with strengths they are commended for and some with sins that they are called to repent from. There is much to learn from the examples in scripture. No doubt there is a message that Jesus is “sending” to us as well. Please pray that we would hear what He is saying. That we wound be encouraged where he is encouraging, and repent where he points out our sins and weaknesses.

Sheep Among Wolves

At this week’s Wednesday gathering, we watched “Sheep Among Wolves” a video about the persecuted church in the Middle East. It was an inspiring night where we were left checking our own lives and commitment. Christians over there are spending their lives for the sake of God’s kingdom. Realizing that provides a wake-up call to ensure that we are not wasting ours. It’s incredible to see the hardships and persecution that are likely beyond our full comprehension and yet see the commitment and love that these believers have for Christ. One of the men in the video was at a near loss of words trying to explain that Jesus is worth any cost. Intentionally this video leaves us questioning what we are doing with our lives. Christ is worthy of no lesser commitment. He deserves no lesser love and sacrifice sacrifice here in the relative comfort of the west.

We continue to work on things around the church. Regulations are making it easier for people to get to church so we decided we would to. We completely redid the stairs going down into the coffeehouse and also repaired the steps leading to the sanctuary. We also are continuing to upgrade our technology to more effectively get our Bible teaching into the community. There seems to be no end to the amount of wires we need to pull from one end of the church to the other.

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Things aren’t normal. But is normal really the goal or expectancy for a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit and under the direction of an almighty God? Please pray that as a church we would be directed by God, learning the lessons that He has for us, and going out applying them in our lives.

Since the last JFB Duluth update one month ago we have not physically gathered together for a church service. We have had no real church events, and the service positions and schedules that we have become accustomed to having been interrupted. However, that doesn’t mean we have been at a standstill. God’s overall mission for us remains the same. As a church, we remain committed to doing what we can to advance the purposes of God and His kingdom.

Proclaiming the Truth

The truth of scripture and the proclamation of it has, is, and always will be a priority for us. In fact, it is one aspect of our church that has continued on week after week even during this pandemic. Romans 10 reminds us of the importance of the preaching of God’s word. Paul asks the question, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14 ESV)

Our sermons have temporarily moved entirely online which has provided a unique opportunity to present the truth anywhere with an internet connection. A couple of weeks ago after 12 years of Pastor Justin teaching verse by verse through the New Testament on Sunday mornings, we begin our last book which is Revelation. Wanting to reach out to the community we mailed out thousands of fliers inviting people to tune in to our live stream services.

Continuing Campus Ministry

Street Level has begun digitally meeting with current students every week. We are taking this time to discuss what it means to be a follower of Jesus with the desire of being trained and equipped to make a difference in the campuses and lives around us. In the last couple of weeks, we have realized the call to be a disciple is a steep one. We discussed Luke 14 which reminds us of the high expectations that Jesus has for anyone who would follow Him. It seemed that He did not make any apologies or excuses for asking us to give up all and put Him first in our lives.

Our conversation led us to think about the costs of following Jesus and the things that we cling to not wanting to let go. We realize that the costs of following Jesus are great and that it won’t be easy. But this we talked about how although the cost to follow Jesus may be high, the cost we will pay if we choose not to follow Him is far greater. In the end, we will choose what cost we want to pay. We can either miss out on our pursuits and dreams or His. It shouldn’t be a hard decision. We know that the cost of following Jesus is well worth paying. Please pray that the truths that we have spent time discussing would be made real to our lives and change how we think and the way that we live.

Upgrades

We are doing what we can to keep the church moving forward to be better fit for ministry than before. One way we have done this is to improve our system for live streaming our services. This has meant installing new cameras, downloading new software, and running even more cables. In this digital age, we want to improve our online ministry to be as effective as possible. We have also made some kitchen and coffee house upgrades, as well as an improvement to our heating system.

I’m not sure when we will be able to gather together again. I’m not sure what it is going to look like when we do. It would be easy for us to view this time as a waiting period, that we are waiting to get back together, that we are waiting for everything to be “normal” again. I think that would be a waste of time. It would be a misuse of the season that God has us in. I think God would have us keep moving forward both in our character development and sanctification and also in fulfilling the mission the God has us on. We are seeking to do that corporately as a church, but we all need to be doing that individually.

Church may look different now, but the mission remains the same. We still seek to spread the truth of Jesus into our community. We still desire to disciple and be disciples. The church’s job still remains to equip believers to make a difference in the community that they are in. Although recent happenings in the world and regulations change some of the ways we minister as a church, they do not change why we are here.

Weekly Services

We continue to have Sunday and Wednesday services by live streaming our current sermons on our YouTube channel. You can catch our most recent sermons here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaKDmfLCRACaIa06KPJhLDA. Sermons start at 10:30 am every Sunday and at 7 pm on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. We are in the middle of a series through the epistles of John on Sunday mornings and nearing the end of 2 Kings on Wednesday evenings. It is amazing to see the sovereignty of God in our passage week after week. He seems to perfectly align our verses to the needs of our church and the circumstances of this world. It is clear God knows what we need and provides exactly that, and we thank Him for it.

Staying Connected

Being united has always been an important thing for us. It might be a little harder than before, but we’re finding ways to stay connected as a church. We seek to continue to encourage one another, to not neglect meeting together, to have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, to pray for one another. Although our circumstances may be different, God’s expectation of the unity, fellowship, and love that we are to have for each other hasn’t changed.

Getting together for a night of games seems to have always been a part of our church. We decided that we would do it over a video call. One night a group sharpened our drawing skills, and played Pictionary over a video call. It was a great time, although sharing snacks was made much more difficult.

Community Involvement

We still want to reach out and be there for our community even when our doors are closed to our typical weekly services. To do this we made a commercial to be put on social media and aired on local TV stations. The goal was to let the community know that we are here for them, that God loves them, and that we would be happy to pray for any of their needs during this time. The commercial was a combined effort of several members of the church which proved to be an interesting challenge while also being under a shelter in place order. Through technology we were able to all work on this project together. If you are interested in seeing the final video, you can find it on our website at jfbduluth.com.

Without a doubt the church calendar looks different than normal. God still has plans for us as a church and as individual believers. We intend to continue seeking Him and figure out what it is that He is accomplishing through us and perhaps more importantly inside of us. Please pray that we would cooperate with God. Ask that we would let Him to change us into the disciples of Jesus that He would have us be 

Covenant Membership

JFBelievers Duluth celebrated the first official covenant membership retreat. Over the past year, we’ve been studying, praying and seeking what God would have for us in regards to membership and the final weekend in February our new covenant members escaped to northern MN and made it official. We blissfully enjoyed games, each other’s company and nature. We continue to have covenant member only gatherings on the first Wednesday of each month and started a new series thru a book called Life in Community by Dustin Willis with great discussion on how significant community has been in our own lives but also on our desire to go deeper with each other; being careful not to rest on our laurels.

Campus Ministry

UW Superior has persisted with weekly Bible studies and recently had the opportunity to host Erin Bottomlee from Kentucky as a guest speaker. UMD Street Level has benefited from becoming an official on-campus organization this semester. This official status has opened up opportunities for greater promotion and an on-campus meeting space. UMD weekly studies have extended on from last semester going through parables and we’ve seen some new faces this semester for our weekly gatherings. UMD is gearing up for next month when guest speaker Annemieke from Amsterdam will come to discuss her ministry in the red-light district. This event will be promoted widely across campus to students as well as other Christian organizations.

Remodeling

JFB Duluth’s coffeehouse, RavenFed, recently underwent some remodeling work. The kitchen countertop space has been largely expanded as well as new seating arrangements for the coffeehouse itself. We were even able to incorporate some crown molding from prior sections of the building into the new countertop which fit in well with the ambience. RavenFed continues to be a staple for our weekly fellowship time and this remodeling project serves to enhance that mission.

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Missions

In our efforts to reach both locally, domestically and internationally we are sending 4 people from Duluth in a joint venture with Menomonie to Louisiana in mid-March. Moreover, an additional group of 5 Duluthians are training to prepare for Philippines trips this summer. This past month we started a new series called Saturate by Jeff Vanderstelt which we will cover each month on the third Wednesday evening. This series will consist of video and small group discussions on how to become disciples in our everyday lives here in the Twin Ports helping us to better fulfill the mission in our backyard.

-Matt

Our campus ministry has always been an important part of this church. So, the start of a new semester is always an exciting time for us. But this semester we have something new that God is doing to look forward to. Over winter break Street Level became an officially recognized student org at the UM-Duluth Campus! In the last month, students returned back to campus for the start of another semester. Which means Street Level started back up after mostly taking a break through the winter break.

Two Campuses: One Mission

Our local Twin Ports chapter of Street Level is now on two campuses but still with one mission: to encourage, lead, and provide opportunities for college students to seek Jesus wholeheartedly and to follow Him with every aspect of their lives. We begin the semester with information tables at both campuses. We gave away coffee and let students know more about Street Level.

Street Level Road Trip

We also launched into this semester with a fun trip off campus to the Street Level House in Menomonie. Street Level all piled into a van and headed south where we joined with the other US-based Street level groups (sorry Cebu) for a night filled with fellowship, games, and snacks. We took time to hear about the different things God is doing in the ministries and individuals from each campus. It is always encouraging to hear about the ministry that is happening that we sometimes aren’t aware of. In the morning we fueled up with breakfast provided by the Blind Munchies. Then we headed to the ice where we took part in the great SL Broomball tournament of 2020.

Judging by the amount of time people spent on their backs, we may have lacked some talent. But it was made up for by enthusiasm. After the victors claimed their prize, we had a bbq on the frozen lake and even made a snowman.

Word on the Street Magazine

We are currently printing our 43rd issue of Word on the Street. The magazine has changed a lot over the years. We are always hoping and looking for ways to get better at what God has called us to do. In the last week, JFB Duluth hosted a WOTS workshop where we came together to talk about everything magazine and writing. We spent the morning launching our next issue and talking about some things specific to our magazine and staff. In the afternoon we were blessed to be joined by a professional writer. She shared her insights and taught us how to be more creative and effective in our writing. See the picture below of the notes from our meeting… don’t worry we don’t really know what it says either….  

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Fellowship

The typical month has four Wednesdays in it. Occasionally we will see a month with one extra. When this happens, we take the opportunity to get out of the church and do something fun in the community. January happened to be one of those months so we took over a room at a local pizza place and set up an easel and played Pictionary. It was an entertaining night, probably more so because it turns out that God did not intend for many of us to be artists…    

The Super Bowl is always a good time for us to all come together and enjoy each other’s company over some delicious food. (I think there might be a TV on with the game somewhere too, I’m pretty sure I heard that the Packers won)

We Can’t do This Alone

Despite how it might read it has not been all fun and games up here. God had a mission for us, and it isn’t easy. We will never be able to be the church that He intends on our own. We can train ourselves to the best of our ability as we did at the WOTS workshop, we can be together united in fellowship, we can gain new ministries as we did at UMD, but if God is not behind it these things are of limited value. If your inclined to pray for us, pray that Street Level would be an organization that is lead by God, grown by Him, and used by Him at both campuses. Pray that these opportunities for fellowship go beyond a fun night but deeper to true unity as the one body of Christ that we are to be.

Along with the end of 2019, we also recently ended two different series that we’ve been in for quite some time. In 2019 we took one Wednesday a month to take a look at the issue of creationism and evolution. We watched a video series titled Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis. Each month we covered a different topic in the debate between the Bible-believing creationist and the typical secular scientist. We dug into questions like- “What really happened to the dinosaurs?” and “Did we ever experience an ice age.”

These are real questions that people have. For most of us if we are left trusting what we have heard from culture and our time spent in any formal education we would be led to believe that modern-day science is incompatible with the narrative of scripture. The problem is the evidence is not so stacked against the miracle of God’s creation as we might assume. Throughout the year it’s been made clear there is tons of evidence supporting the Bible’s explanation for the world’s creation. There are also reasonable explanations for why the world around us looks how it does. It has been a good reminder that all of us should consider why we are believing what we believe.

Pastor Justin also just finished up his series going through the Gospel of John. We have spent well over a year in this series so it was a bittersweet thing to finish it up. Through this series, we have been given the opportunity to be more fully introduced to who Jesus is, the incredible love of God, the plans that He has for us, our desperate need for Christ, and the realities of what a life spent in pursuit of Him and His mission will entail.

New Year’s Happenings

We went int 2020 with a New Year’s Eve party. We spent the night eating playing games, eating, a little more games, and then a little more eating. It was a great night of fellowship and also a good opportunity to invite some friends from the community. We also had the chance to watch a video reminding us of all that God has done throughout the last year, what he has let us be a part of, and the family that we get to do it all together with. Also, we got to remember that one time when James crashed his bicycle.

After our New Year’s Eve festivities, we gathered back together on New Year’s Day for a mission’s breakfast at Big Apple Bagels. We took some time to enjoy a meal together and talk about where God has taken us in the mission field this year. It was a great time hearing stories of recent trips. We ended our breakfast being reminded that God has placed each of us in the mission field and that all of us have a role to play.

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Looking Forward

Street Level is in the midst of making plans for the upcoming spring semester both in Superior and in Duluth. Please keep Street Level in prayer as we schedule, plan, and seek God for His direction in our outreach to the local college campuses. The start of the semester is always an exciting time for us. We are looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for Street Level in the Twin Ports.