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People's AME Church in Chelsea, MA.
Senior Pastor Reverend Sandra G. Whitley
 A few years ago I was appointed the Senior Pastor of People's A.M.E. Church in Chelsea, MA. I grasped the vision for Alpha and began to put into motion plans to launch our first course in 2011. Several Alpha churches and teams located in our region came alongside us to help us train and prepare. We made concrete plans to publicize our upcoming ALPHA Dinner.
Our Alpha team prayed and prepared to go out into our neighborhood, and for the next two weeks, we knocked on doors and personally invited people to join us. God revealed treasures behind the doors of those houses; our neighbors, it seemed, represented peoples from many nations. We had almost missed one home in particular, because we had run out of fliers, but our team refused to let cold temperatures and an impending snow storm deter our plans to invite guests to come to Alpha. We went back to that house and after ringing the bell; a man answered the door and identified himself as the landlord. He introduced us to a refugee family who had just moved into the building. They had just arrived from Congo, Africa the night before. A mother and her four children had only the clothes on their backs, no food, nor any belongings.
A team from our congregation later returned to shower the family with lots of coats, clothing and, shoes, others brought a refrigerator and food. The family had fled for their lives in the Congo and had come to America to be safe and begin again. We all reveled in the awesomeness of "God's Amazing Grace”. By the evening of our Alpha Introductory Dinner, we had successful passed out roughly 214+ English & Spanish Alpha invitations. Our team also extended personal invitations by word of mouth, made phone calls, and sent emails to family, friends, co-workers, students, pastors, and multi-ethnic community groups in our area. On February 15th, the atmosphere was set with excitement and anticipation in the air and the fellowship hall was warmly filled with the spirit of God's loving presence for the arrival of our guests. We rejoice in the Lord in praise of the various nations other than African Americans, who showed up in Spanish, African, Caucasian, and Haitian guests.
May the Lord be praised for answering our prayers and for the 23 guests now attending our Alpha Course. God is truly amazing and
we thank Him for our new Alpha Church family. We are so very encouraged and truly fired up about God's work through the ministry
of Alpha at our church, and also this diverse community's response
to our invitations. If it had not been for ALPHA we would not have the found the treasures hidden behind the doors we knocked on, or been empowered to step outside our comfort zone and invite all who would listen. We are experiencing a renewed sense of mission and unity among the church's Alpha team. We thank the Lord for not our will being done but His will that brings glory and honor to His Name alone. In Jesus precious love and joy, AMEN!
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Lisa Smith, 3/8/2011 |
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