Greetings Piney Grove church family!
As you all know, the whole world has been thrown out of balance here recently due to many unforeseen issues. One of the most relevant outside of Covid-19, is the social justice movement, in which has been a great need among us for decades. However, with the murder of George Floyd, special attention has been given by the world to the pandemic that is apparent within our criminal justice system, in which overwhelming impacts people of color, as it also negatively affects other races as well.
Due to this crisis, and the momentum in which has been gained, God has opened my heart and eyes to His word, in which plainly requires us as His covenant people to be actively involved in promoting justice for all people; especially the oppressed, voiceless and marginalized.
God instructs His covenant people to “seek justice.” Which means to be intentional about it! Jesus even called “seeking justice” in Luke 11:42 something that is more of a priority than paying tithes! Though he articulates that all should be done as a regular practice of our faith walk with God, he refers to tithing as the less important spiritual matter in contrast to tithing! Dont miss that! Jesus said that giving 100% of our heart in the name of justice was way more important than giving 10% of our income in the name of tithes.
As you know, it is my vision to lead us as a ministry into becoming more and more of a community centered church; to lead us into becoming a tithing church, a church that’s concerned about orphans, the underprivileged, the poor, and a church that is not only politically involved, but one in which has a social conscious. Especially a conscious for the concerns of the black community as a predominately black church.
2020 has indeed been a year of vision! God has used the coronavirus, along with the murder of a helpless man of color to open my eyes, and hopefully yours as well to whats TRULY important and whats not; to what our place in this world as the body of Christ really is, and what it’s not!
And I believe that establishing an active social justice fund to be used to promote the social justice cause is what God desires. This fund will be used to donate to organizations whose community work aligns with our burden to assist, to assist with local efforts where funds are needed, to provide a wide range of assistance for local, regional, or national protest efforts and/or peaceful protestors, to contribute to educational opportunities, and to assist causes that are geared toward promoting local, state-wide, or national change.
Being that many things we regularly do for ministry service have been paused, this is our opportunity to still be actively involved in helping to manifest Acts 17:6 this decade; to assist with turning the world upside down!
Please let your voice be heard in this, and may God continue to lead us in His will.
Pastor DL Williams
Senior Pastor
