{"id":193,"date":"2019-09-05T15:42:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T20:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/kelligibson\/?page_id=193"},"modified":"2022-09-09T21:58:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T02:58:20","slug":"service-to-the-community-and-church","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/kelligibson\/service\/service-to-the-community-and-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Service to the Community and Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Church Activity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we moved to Abilene, we started attending HOPE Church fo Christ, where I had been a member as a student from 2002-2009. I was an active participant at HOPE from the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2017, when the elders and preacher had a falling out and the church split. I continued meeting with many families from HOPE afterward, and we have since renamed ourselves the Refuge Church of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have always attended the Refuge regularly, which meets on Sunday evenings, but during a season when the church was really struggling and my husband was very ill, I began to attend Minter Lane Church of Christ on Sunday mornings too. I was a regular at Minter Lane from March 2019 until the summer of 2021. Early on, I remember desperately needing the “re-gospeling” that I experienced every Sunday I went to Minter Lane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both churches met online for the first year or so of the COVID pandemic. As vaccinations became available, and “my churches” began to meet in person again, I realized that I was overstretched, and I couldn’t fully give myself to the service of either church. I decided that the Refuge simply needed me more than Minter Lane did. I love the Minter Lane congregation, and I still feel at home there, even though I’m not currently attending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At every church I have regularly attended, I have taught occasional Bible classes for adults. At HOPE in the fall of 2016, I taught a 4-week Wednesday night series on the Psalms. At the Refuge, after we decided to follow the lectionary, I co-taught a 4-week series on the spirituality of the lectionary on Wednesday evenings. I volunteered to teach that class for a month and arranged for a guest preacher so that our preacher could take a much-needed sabbatical. The Refuge is very small, and instead of an “eldership,” we have a “Discernment Team”; I have been one of the Discernment Team members since the fall of 2020. At Minter Lane, I taught a Sunday morning Bible class introducing the Desert Fathers, offered several communion meditations, and was a guest preacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Speaking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, I have been invited to guest speak and teach at churches, schools, and retreats:<\/p>\n\n\n\n