Second Semester

Since our last report, we’ve begun the new Spring 2018 semester with Street Level. We’ve been pleased to see many of the students back. We’ve also had several new visitors who have come to see who we are. We never know who may come to visit on any given week, so we plan accordingly and are oftentimes surprised. It’s an incrementally slow, but noticeable increase in overall consistency and stability within the ministry. If we don’t stop to consider it, it’s easy to not even notice. We are thankful for God’s continued presence and leading along the journey.

Changes

We’ve made a few logistical changes. We are doing a meal every Tuesday proceeding the Street Level meeting (Meal 6:30pm, Bible study 7pm). This has been good for the conversational aspect as we seek to build relationships within the group. It’s also been a doorway of opportunity for getting people involved. Each week, we take on volunteer to come in early the following week to help with setting up and serving the meal.

Involvement such as this has been a focus for us during the last few months. Aside from the meal assistance, we have opened up a few poster routes. These are done on a first-come first served basis. The stipulation is that the route must be done as a pair, and at least one person must have had done it before. We’ve also, for the first time, had a few of the students do a table on campus for Street Level without direct assistance. Finally, we opened up the opportunity to “shadow” on the most recent issue of Word on the Street Magazine. One of the students who has been very participatory has chosen to step up and to write for our River Falls edition, this is also a first for us.

Sunday Study

Our Sunday JFBelievers meetings continue at 5pm each week. We’ve ended our study of the Gospel of Matthew, and are now turning to the Epistle Letters. The goal is to cover one chapter each week, which keeps us moving through the material fairly quickly, addressing the big topics of Scripture. We are currently in letters of 1/2/3 John. We split an hour right down the middle: 30 minutes of teaching and 30 minutes of discussion. The discussions are have been helpful in getting the group to grasp the meaning of the text and encourage each other to respond in practical ways.

As we reflect with gratitude on what God has done and is doing, we look forward to what the coming months will bring, and are prayerfully considering what God would lead us into next.