Prayer Focus: Living Lives of Mercy

And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God

Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8 is a very simple summary of how God wants us to live. To walk humbly with God means that we learn intimately who He is, what He desires, and how He loves.

When we understand God’s unconditional grace and compassion that He extends to us through His Son, we will then know how to show justice and mercy to others.

We focus our prayer this month on MERCY with two simple prayers…

God, will you please help me to grasp and be gripped by the gracious mercy that you have shown to me?

Father, will you show me how you want me to reflect your grace by showing mercy to someone that you put in my path today?

Mercy Spotlight: Mercy Opportunities Featured at the Ministry Table

Over the next few weeks at UBC, we will be focusing on God’s mercy and how that compels us to do justice and show mercy to the broken in our community and in our world.

UBC’s Mercy Ministries are here to equip and mobilize those in our church body to mercifully share the love of Christ by attending to the tangible needs of the suffering, the scattered, the homeless, the orphaned, the widowed, and the poor.

Join us for the Mercy Sermon Series at the Ministry Table in the lobby through the month of November to learn about the Mercy Ministry initiatives that UBC is currently coordinating. And please pray with us that God would show us other ways to make Him known mercifully here, near and everywhere.

October 29. Pro Life Ministry -- Providing tangible assistance to both pro-life and pregnancy resource initiatives as well as end-of-life services during moments of crisis.

November 5. Supporting the Persecuted Church -- praying for those around the world suffering persecution because of their faith in Christ.

November 12. Called to Care Ministry -- Supporting foster and adoptive families by using wrap around, individualized models of holistic care.

November 19. Mercy Fix It Team -- Supporting other mercy ministries in serving people (single mothers, refugees, widows, the poor) with whom relationships are being built by meeting tangible, hands on/fix it type of needs.

November 26. Refugee Ministry -- Serving the scattered people God has brought to our community by assisting them in meeting their basic needs, showing the gospel through relationship building, and assisting them in the process of assimilation.

Mission Highlight: The Bahuns

Perry Growth Group

**The group at a fall festival.**
**Buddy and Julia Bahun, Grace, Liam, Faith, and Hope. Braden and Vanessa Cowell. Aaron and Haley Perry, Lincoln, Jackson, Madison, and Carter.**

The Perry Growth Group adopted the Bahun family a few years ago as part of the encouragement from the Mission Core Team that all Growth Groups adopt a missionary/missionary family. Buddy, Julia and their four kids serve as missionaries in Namibia, Africa. Over the past several years we have developed a relationship with the Bahuns through virtual meetings, emails, text messages, and by sending packages to them. This year, the Bahun family was able to travel to the US and meet face-to-face with our Growth Group, as well as other individuals and churches in the US. The Bahuns interacted with the group during regular Growth Group meetings, got to experience a fall festival with some of the group, and will be joining the group for a bonfire night coming up soon.

**Faith Bahun, Madison Perry, and Hope Bahun enjoying dinner at the fall festival.**

“The virtual interaction with the Bahun family is nice, but our face-to-face time has deepened the relationship greatly. Our kids (Perry and Bahun) try to interact with each other virtually, but it’s a little awkward and all of the kids end up running off to go do something else while the adults continue on in conversation. Since the Bahuns' arrival to the area, the kids have wanted to hang out and don’t want to leave each other. Real relationships have been formed between the kids and adults and it’s a blessing to see.” - Haley Perry.

**Julia Bahun got to try a funnel cake for the first time. She approves, and so do the kids!**

We have had an amazing time with the Bahuns and are looking forward to the upcoming opportunities we will have with them. We will definitely miss seeing them face-to-face once they return to Namibia in a few months. We encourage any Growth Group who hasn’t adopted a missionary family to do so. It is such a blessing to share in the gospel in this way with our brothers and sisters around the world and to be able to call them our friends.

**The kids having a great time playing together.**

Opportunity: Perspectives - Meet the Teachers

Jonathan Wilbur. Lesson One: The Living God is a Missionary God.

Jonathan is teaching the opening lesson of Perspectives, which helps dispel the myth that the God of the Old Testament is somehow different from the God of the New Testament. We quickly learn that God has always been a God on Mission, bringing and calling all nations to come to Him. Jonathan and his wife Laura have been getting this done with their obedient work in the field in Central Asia, the Muslim World, and recently into the Persian sphere. His experience with cultures and languages challenge us to go a little further in our own faith journey.

Laura Wilbur. Lesson Four: Mandate for the Nations.

Laura will be teaching about the mandate from the Scripture that empowers the Church, God’s people, to co-labor with Him. This is demonstrated through His commands, promises, covenants and miracles. It begs the question, will we be on board with His program for the nations or should we leave that to the “super saints”? Laura with her husband Jonathan and their five children have been a testament of what a Godly family can do to impact the world for God’s Kingdom. Laura’s incredibly intelligent insight, even in suffering, helps us rest upon the fact that it is best to serve God even in difficulty.

Barbara Yandell. Lesson Eight: Pioneers of the World Christian Movement.

Barbara Yandell will be teaching about many great Christian “Pioneer” movements in missions including the works of William Carey, the major contributions of women in missions, and when ordinary people do extraordinary things. Barbara can be best described as a spunky enthusiastic storyteller all bundled in a smaller frame with a Texas sized passion for the things of God. She also is the Teacher of Record for any students who wish to go the furthest mile and participate in receiving College credit for the Perspective courses.

One last thing, are you not sure about Perspectives? Anyone is welcome to visit, the first two sessions without charge; there you can meet a mentor and you can place your toe in the water and learn if these classes are for you.

(To learn more about the three participation levels of perspectives contact Sharon. skerestes4@gmail.com)

Next Month: Perspectives Teachers: Pam Arlund, Brian Hogan, Bob Sjogren.

Monthly Mission Quote:

Jesus is always calling the Church into mission beyond our resources, so that we have to depend on Him. -(Unknown)

Register for the Evening Classes at UBC by clicking the button below.

Perspectives - Evening Class

Register for Early-Morning Classes at the Xenia Perspectives Class by clicking the button below.

Perspectives - Morning Class

Contact Sharon at skerestes4@gmail.com for more info.

Interested in going on a mission trip this year? The following UBC-sponsored trips are open to UBC members and regular attenders.

Contacts to learn more:

Jim Corbin jim.corbin@ubcbeavercreek.com

Aldin Falfulovic aldin.fafulovic@ubcbeavercreek.com

To read past Mission Updates or to get more information about UBC on Mission, visit www.ubcbeavercreek.com/mission.

UBC Mission & Mercy Ministry Update - 2023, Issue 11

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