As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

When Sarah started house hunting a little over a year ago, she knew she wanted to find a home as close to Abundant Life as possible.  God had made it clear to Sarah that he wanted her to become a member of the community of South West Massillon over the preceding three years, and she was excited to follow where he led.

You see, God had given Sarah a special love for our community.  It started with a local mission trip that she’d chaperoned, and it had been reinforced as she participated in the church’s block parties.  The more she encountered the people of South West Massillon and the more she learned about the community, the more it became clear to Sarah: she wanted to stop being a visitor and start being a resident of this neighborhood she had grown to love.

So she started her hunt, and after about a month of looking, Sarah was sure she’d found the house of her dreams.  However, two days before she was going to place an offer on the house, it sold to another buyer. A few weeks later, there was another house, but her offer was outbid.

For the next few months, Sarah checked online real estate listings daily, attended open houses, and toured nearly every house for sale in the area, but to no avail.  None of the houses were for her.  She was frustrated and beginning to doubt that South West Massillon was truly where God had called her to live.

Finally, in late June, after more than three months of house hunting, a small home on 7^th   Street that she had seen once and dismissed for various reasons kept coming to mind.  She called her realtor and asked to see it one more time.  As she toured the home, she became increasingly convinced that this was where God wanted her to be.  About six weeks later, she had the keys and she was officially a resident of South West Massillon.

So what’s the “C.O.O.L.” part of the story?  Of all the houses Sarah looked at and those she’d seriously considered purchasing, only one was on the C.O.O.L. Project map: the house where she currently lives.  Because she’s a resident of the neighborhood, C.O.O.L. volunteers have offered to do some work on the exterior of her house.  And since Abundant Life is cooperating with the ministry and working on several houses in the community, she’ll also have the opportunity to meet even more of her neighbors as she volunteers for C.O.O.L. 

It seems God brought Sarah to the right house at the right time so that she could be blessed and so that she could be a blessing.  That’s pretty cool.

 If you want to learn more about the C.O.O.L. Project 2013, check out their website by following this link! 

Join us for a bedazzling Women’s Retreat Getaway on June 7 – 8 at Salt Fork Lodge! Registration will be from 4:00 – 7:00 pm, Friday. Provided carpooling from the church will be at 5:30 pm. The retreat will end at 3:00 pm Saturday. The cost for the retreat is $50 which includes food, lodging, material and extras. Please register after church on the stage or online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ALCFWomensRetreat. Registration and money are due May 12.

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

Kathy didn’t plan to start Nature Notebook Club.  In fact, it started as a simple activity this home-schooling mom did with her children: observe God’s creation and then draw and write about it in a special “nature notebook.”  But last summer when parents were disappointed that Abundant Life’s S.L.A.M. Kid’s Club was over for the summer in early July, Kathy had an idea: she would invite these parents and their children to her home for Nature Notebook Club on a larger scale. 

And Kathy didn’t plan for Nature Notebook Club to develop the way it has.  On its first meeting, about 5 children and their parents came.  By the end of the summer, over 40 people had come to Nature Notebook Club, and the club was meeting twice a week.  The group went on hikes together, exploring creation and discussing the many things that the nature they observed revealed about their Creator.  They learned together and sang together and ate together and fellowshipped together, and they decided that they liked it so much that they didn’t want it to end when the summer ended.  So they continued on.  And when the weather got cold, they moved indoors to the church building. 

And Kathy certainly didn’t plan for what God did next.  God took this group of parents and children and made them family.  He provided opportunities for them to support each other and pray for one another.  He allowed them to encourage one another in their pursuit of Jesus.  And as a result, lives are changing.  Children are discovering truths about their Creator and learning to follow Him.  Several of the adult women have started a Bible study where they study together to learn about what  it means to live their lives for Jesus.

And Kathy has learned that God’s plans are so much more, so much better, than she could have ever dreamed.

To find out more about this ministry, go to their website and like them on Facebook.  Most importantly, please commit to praying for their outreach to our community.

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

At Abundant Life, our fall block parties are typically small outdoor festivals held on the former Lorin Andrews property that the church recently acquired.  We spread out across the three acres, setting up areas for games, food, and various outdoor activities, and we invite our neighbors to come and share in our celebration.  This block party, however, looked quite different.

The morning of October 28 dawned cold, rainy, and windy, and as the day progressed, the weather only got worse.  Needless to say, our outdoor party plans weren’t going to work, so we had to make some changes and move our block party inside the church building.  We cleared the sanctuary of all our seating and set up carnival games, a caramel apple booth, a cake walk, and a popcorn stand, and we filled our basement with tables and chairs for visitors to use while they filled up on hot dogs, chips, and hot beverages.  A pavillion went up in our parking lot, where volunteers made funnel cakes for the party-goers.  We opened our doors, sent a few volunteers outside to invite cold and wet trick-or-treaters, and threw our party on one of the rainiest days of the fall.

How is this a God story? 

First, it was amazing to see all of the church members and volunteers work together to make this community event happen in spite of all the last minute changes because of the bad weather.  It wasn’t what we’d expected or planned, but we knew that God had a plan for the day, and we wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to cooperate with what He was doing.  And what he did was something far better than what we could have hoped.

For years, we’ve attempted to invite our neighbors into our church building, and the response has always been unenthusiastic.  And because few people attended events held inside the church, we went outside to meet them.  On the Sunday of the fall block party, however, we were excited to welcome over 100 guests inside our church building!  Our neighbors were able to see for themselves where we worship, and perhaps realize that Abundant Life Christian Fellowship is a place where they can feel welcome and at home. 

Like I said, God didn’t do what we expected or planned on the rainy afternoon of our third annual fall block party, but he did show up and do something exciting in our midst.  Sounds like a God story to me…

We’re aspiring to model this lifestyle through mid-sized groups known as 3D communities, and we’re piloting our first 3D community now.  Check out our calendar for details about our next gathering!

You can learn more about 3D communities by checking out Pastor Shane’s Life in 3D sermon series or by reading Abundant Life’s vision statement on our About page.

Questions?  Feel free to contact us through this website’s contact page or e-mail us at alcfohio@gmail.com.  We’d love to hear from you!

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

Right now, the sanctuary of our church is undergoing major renovations: we’re redoing everything from the sound system to the ceiling and just about everything in between.  The project is to date the largest renovation we’ve tackled since coming to our current location about thirty years ago, and it’s taking us months to plan and execute all of the various elements of the renovations. 

While God’s handiwork has been evident through so very many details of the project, I find his work most obvious in the members of our church body who are stepping up and giving of their time and talents to accomplish this renovation.

Can I tell you about Debbie and Hannah who gave about 20 hours of their time to clean one of the stained glass windows? They sat on the scaffolding, scrubbing the leaded windows with wire brushes, hour after hour, until the job was done.  How about Galen?  Galen works full-time at a local business and runs a daily paper route.  You’d think he’d be too busy to help.  Nope.  Galen is heading up the project.  He’s spent countless hours researching, planning, and doing quite a bit of the work himself.  And then there’s Katie and Cole and Noah and Jonas and Phoebe, who have each spent quite a bit of time painting, building, and up high on ladders doing their part in the work. Joan has made sure that the workers are well-fed and have everything they need to do their jobs.  Bill and Brian have each donated their time and skill in redesigning and setting up an entirely new sound system.  Jim and Kim and Mandy and Kari and Nikki have spent hours cleaning drywall dust.  Many others have helped us rearrange seats and haul away trash. 

These are just the ones I know about.  It seems that each Sunday, another element of the project has been accomplished and another set of people have pitched in and made it happen.

And this is where I see God’s fingerprints on this project:  all sorts of people who could just as easily spend their time elsewhere have shown up, worked hard, and given of themselves selflessly.  In this small way, they have reflected the image of their Creator, and that’s a God story for sure.

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

When the Hebrews Project, a new ministry that provides baked goods for the residents of Massillon’s Family Living Center, debuted several months ago, Kari was on board right away.  She baked a batch of brownies, packaged them in two tin containers with cardboard lids, and wrote encouraging Bible verses on the lids.  The brownies were gathered together with other dontated baked goods and delivered to the Family Living Center.   She couldn’t have possibly imagined what God would do next.

A week or so later, Kari, who works in a local factory, decided to break up the monotony of her repetitive job by praying.  On this particular day, she decided to pray for whomever it was that received the brownies she’d baked.  Later that same day, Kari sat down to lunch with a coworker who mentioned that she was just getting ready to move out of the Family Living Center and into her own home.  In the course of their conversation, Kari mentioned the Hebrews Project and baked goods that Abundant Life had sent to the Family Living Center.  Her coworker remembered the baked goods and commented that she’d really enjoyed the brownies that she and her family had shared.  It seems that Kari’s coworker had been the recipient of Kari’s brownies!

God chose to use a batch of brownies to bless not only a resident of the Family Living Center, but to remind Kari and the rest of us that He has placed us in just the right place at just the right time to be a display of His great love to our neighbors.

Cool, huh?

Jesus’ command to make disciples in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) was not intended solely for the early disciples, nor is disciple-making the responsibility of a special class of Christians. Rather, all followers of Christ are called to make disciples, to fish for men (Matthew 4:19). Many don’t actively make disciples because they don’t know what it means to be a disciple.

On a practical level discipleship means that we look at other people and say exactly what Jesus said to his disciples: “Follow me.” To make disciples is to intentionally show the life of Christ before others, to share the gospel of Christ with others, to teach the Word of Christ to others, and to do all of this with a view toward reaching every people group in the world with the gospel.

Multiply is a 24-session discipleship experience where one person helps another understand what it means to follow Jesus, study scripture, and be the church. 

Join us starting Sunday, March 3 for this exciting new series!  If you’d like more information about this exciting new class, visit the Multiply Movement website.

The cost is $5 per person or $3 if you bring a group of 10 or more.  If you have any questions or are interested in pre-registering, see Brandon Jurkovich or email him at bjj232008@hotmail.com

Several times a year, Abundant Life chooses a Sunday evening to dedicate to worshipping God through music, Scripture reading, and sharing.  Please join us for this special time of praise on Sunday, March 17 at 6PM at the church.  Our God is worthy of our praise!

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We’re blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

On Sunday, May 27, Abundant Life had the opportunity to host our third annual summer block party in South West Massillon.  The day was beautiful: sunny skies and warm weather.  Because of the hard work of many church members and the generosity of various local businesses, we were prepared to welcome hundreds of community members on the former Lorin Andrews property.  Even before the first of our neighbors arrived, we knew that God was at work.

And then the people started coming.  Even Kathy Catazaro-Perry, the mayor of Massillon, stopped by to share in the festivities.  The community came together to laugh, to play, to eat, and to fellowship, and the members of Abundant Life enjoyed the opportunity to get to know our neighbors even better.

And as we spoke with our neighbors, we began to see more ways in which God had moved.  One of our guests told us that she was visiting so that she could get ideas for a ministry on the other side of Massillon that is still in its development stages.  Another teenaged boy spoke with Pastor Shane about how excited he is to see God working in our neighborhood and how he wants to be a part of it.  He’s since visited our youth group, bringing several friends along with him.  Many other community members added their fingerprints to our tree mural and offered suggestions for the church’s continued involvement in the community through the Lorin Andrews property.

Even though the party ended, the blessings still kept coming.  Through this opportunity to gather together as a community, we were able to make and develop relationships that are ongoing.  For example, several children we met that day have since attended our S.L.A.M. Kid’s Club.  And we look forward to God continuing to use these new relationships to expand His Kingdom here in South West Massillon!

Join us on Saturday August 4 as the people of Abundant Life go out into the community and serve the people!  From 9AM to 12PM, we will be doing random acts of kindness throughout our community.  All skill levels and age levels will be able to participate in various activies including a grocery store outreach, hospital and nursing home visitations, giving gifts to local emergency workers and businesses, and lawn work.  Plan to participate in this opportunity to serve our neighbors!

Bob’s God story began long before we met him.  As a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, Bob can attest to the transforming power of God in his life in very real ways.  His relationship with Jesus Christ saved his life and set him on a course that has made him a new man.

We first met Bob last summer when he brought his children to S.L.A.M. Kid’s Club.  We got to know him better over the next months as he became more involved at Abundant Life.  He’d been growing in his faith and praying for a place to continue this personal growth through a Bible study, and this prayer was answered when the church began a class called Exploring Christianity that met during Kid’s Club.  It wasn’t long before we started seeing Bob and his family on Sunday mornings, and now he and his children regularly attend Abundant Life Christian Fellowship.

And Bob’s God story is ongoing.  He continues to grow in Christ, prioritizing service to others and giving.  He regularly prays for opportunities to help others, and God continues to provide these opportunities. In fact, Bob has already started participating in outreach opportunities at Abundant Life, where he especially enjoys joining us for fellowship at the New Destiny Treatment Center.  Through ALCF, God has provided Bob with a place where he can be grounded, with people to call when he’s in need, and with spiritual mentors.

IGNITE is a group for young adults with a triple purpose:

• to establish Christ-centered relationships: fellowship.
• to foster these relationships through God’s Truth: Bible study.
• to connect to other young adults in the community: outreach.

Keep checking the website’s calendar and our Sunday bulletins for upcoming service opportunities and Ignite gatherings.  If you have any questions, you can contact the church at alcfohio@gmail.com or you can contact Corey Jurkovich or Kari Keefer.

If you’d like to check them out for yourself, you can access them on the Independent’s website or by following these links:

Church buys Lorin Andrews property and From the Pulpit

Join us on: July 28 and August 10

You can swap up to 3 plants: perennials, annuals, herbs, or any house plants.  Bring your plants in a pot and label them as to what they are.

There will be door prizes and refreshments for everyone!

This class meets every Sunday morning from 9:30-10:10 AM, and it involves small and large group discussions as well as bi-weekly videos.  Throughout the week, class members are encouraged to read from God As He Longs for You to See Him and to complete assignments in a study guide that accompanies the book.

Already, the study is challenging and inspiring us, and we would love for you to join us on this journey towards knowing God for who he truly is.

This process by which God makes us new, regeneration, is the subject of our cardboard testimonies. Several weeks before our New Year’s Eve party, we were invited to participate in making these cardboard testimonies.  We were given a piece of cardboard and asked to write on one side a brief description of who we were before God began His work in our lives and on the other side, who God has made us to be.  These small testimonies–stories of God’s grace at work in the lives of His children–are a moving, inspiring reminder of the fact that our God is still changing lives.

We invite  you to check out the video of this special presentation by following the link below, and we hope that these stories of redemption and regeneration will encourage you. http://youtu.be/LqN5zqctS7w