AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR COMMUNITY
As pastors in Trumbull County we have a confession to make...
Jesus prayed for our unity. He died on the cross to purchase it. Somehow along the way we found ways to isolate ourselves from one another. By making it about ‘our church’ instead of God’s kingdom we competed with one another. We have sinned against the Lord and we have failed to be an example of the work of Christ to our community. Worst of all, we have misrepresented the gospel of Jesus Christ.
WE ASK FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS
We determine, by the grace of God, to walk together under the banner of the cross of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge our responsibility before God to be watchmen for our cities and our county and pledge to be together...to pray together...to work together for the advancement of the kingdom of God and the transformation of our county.
We declare that the basis of our unity is the truth that Jesus Christ is God the Son and that by His death and shed blood on the cross of Calvary and His glorious resurrection from the dead He has purchased our deliverance from sin and the freedom to live life the way God intends it to be lived.
We recognize that God has created and called us to live out our faith with some ethnic, racial and denominational differences. However, we also recognize that God intended for those differences to give fullness to the body of Christ, not to separate and weaken it. We therefore declare that those differences will no longer be barriers to our unity.
We further declare that the only hope for our county to enjoy loving homes, safe streets and economic prosperity is to seek God and His righteousness. Our community, indeed the world, is in desperate need for revival to take place in the body of Christ.
We therefore call for the Christians of Trumbull County to join us in repentance as we come together in unity to confess our sins and ask God for His mercy. The Bible calls this a ‘Sacred Assembly’.
The Sacred Assembly will be held on Sunday, February 24, 5:00 pm., at First United Methodist Church, 309 North Park Ave., Warren, Ohio.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and heal their land". 2 Chronicles 7:14
The above open letter appeared as a full page ad in the Tribune Chronicle
on February 22nd, 2008 as a public aplology from area Pastors.
