Seeking Welfare
To the Hebrews in exile, the prophet Jeremiah declares that the people of God are to “seek the welfare of the city” in which they dwell (Jeremiah 29:7). That is, they are not to become insular and sit in a spiritual sulk because they are not where they wish they could be. I take this word from Jeremiah to us Christians to mean that we ought not to bemoan that the Church is placed within community contexts that are not yet sold out for Jesus. We are instead to seek the blessing of the contexts in which the Church lives and, as Jeremiah writes, “in its welfare we will find our welfare.”
Sonlight invites campers to summer camp from all over the country. And a good number of churches use Sonlight as a retreat location from September to March, taking weeks or weekends to discover what God has for them in this place.
But Sonlight also sits on the edge of Pagosa Springs, Colorado–a small but growing and thriving community with lots of kids. Sonlight is uniquely positioned with its staff and facilities to offer a welcoming space not only to church groups but also to every group of kids–school classes, extracurricular groups, sports teams, and more. So we have attempted to foster relationships with leaders in the Pagosa community to help bless kids in our local organizations.
The attached picture is a class-worth of thank you notes from elementary school students at Pagosa Peak Open School (whose awesome mission is to teach kids as much as possible outside a traditional classroom). They spent a day at Sonlight learning about snow science and building projects out of fallen Ponderosa pine limbs.
Two weeks ago Sonlight hosted the local high school’s Americana Project, a “master class” in songwriting that helps students bring out their musical talents. They spent the day at Sonlight, getting away from the usual grind and focusing on their creative process.
The past three autumns we have hosted Pagosa’s Developing Urban Single Track and Trails (DUST2) backyard mountain biking club for one of their annual races. They use the Sonlight trails for a fun race, and then gather at the campfire circle for a community meal.
We hope and pray that offering these opportunities to the community (along with Sonlight’s signature awesome cookies and meals) will make this land a blessing to many kids. And we pray that through these relationships the good news of Jesus Christ will rise to the top and the Spirit who made Sonlight will move mightily in more lives.
Please pray for us as we continue to engage our local community–“for the welfare of the city”–and listen to see what you can do to bless your community in Jesus’ name. As Jeremiah suggests, in the end our own welfare is found in our wider communities.
In Christ with You,
emrys