Page 6 - 2018 Annual Report | Catalyst Magazine

The Ecumenical Church of Christ was founded by Bishop Redfern II in 1995 in response to God’scall to minister to those mentioned in Matthew 25:34-36‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in pris- on and you came to visit me.’For twenty years, the Ecumenical Church has ministered to people who su ered with broken families and rela- tionships, people who were homeless, drug addicted, assaulted by life and who had lost hope. We were interest- ed in people who fell out of church be- tween the cracks and those who never knew church. We didn’t own a church building but held services in homeless shelters, community centers and oth- er churches. There were weekly Bible studies for adults and children with meals served daily. We volunteered daily to help with meeting the needs of these disparate families.We purchased The Little Prayer Chap- el in 2015 and started the process of training our members in the Cross Style Message and Life. We o ered the homeless, drug addicted, poor and broken an opportunity to be the church, to hold positions in the fami-ly of God. We rmly believe that each of us is worthy to serve because of the redemption and restoration that’s found in Christ. Instead of the least of these being spectators in the House of God, we believe that by the blood of Jesus we are all saved and extend- edgracethat’ssu cientfortotaland complete restoration.In 2017, we organized 15 separate in- dependent churches with services held in the Little Prayer Chapel. Sev- eral members who been with the Ec- umenical Church enrolled in the Ec- umenical University College of Cross style School of Practical Ministry and studied to become ministers of the Gospel. These students have been ordained and have become pastors of the new Ecumenical Churches.They are responsible for organizing the church body for each church. They rst have to organize a Citylight prayer group of twelve and take on the re- sponsibility of discipling them. These disciples become the leadership of the church taking on the positions of deacons, trustees, ushers, commit- tee members, secretary, treasurer and chairman of the lay leadership. Each of these members is studying to live the Cross Style life. As these congregations grow they leave the Little Prayer Chapel and establish the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ with new families and a new building or location as a stand alone worship and community center.The hope of this ministry is to not have church as usual but to awaken a rad-6 CITYLIGHT | CROSS STYLE | ECUMENICAL CHURCH & UNIVERSITY2018 ANNUAL REPORTEcumenical Church Local/Worldwide