Adventist Community Services
A Church With the Community Authenticity and Consistency are Key to Building Relationships By Jessica Lozano, Record Editor and Communication Director, Southwestern Union
What’s the difference between a church in the community and a church with the community? Marshall Gonzales, Adventist Community Services Director for the Southwestern Union and Texas Conference, says that a church can exist in a community and never engage with anyone outside of its own membership. A church in the community expects people to come to it. But a church with the community is one that has embedded itself into the functions of everyday life in its community. The church with the community humbly kneels down and washes the
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feet of those in need. It learns about the people in the community, and responds to their needs with love and compassion as a reflection of the love and compassion that God has for His precious creation. Of course, when we talk about a church, we are not talking about a walled-in facility. We are talking about people, the body of Christ. We are talking about you and me, the members who sit in the pew and pray in Jesus’ name for God’s will to be done. Adventist Community Services is known for the assistance it provides in
times of major disasters—providing essential cleaning supplies in their famous yellow ACS buckets, warehousing donations and organizing distribution of necessary items, working with local emergency management teams to provide help in whatever way is needed. They are there to help when disaster strikes—hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and, most recently, snow storms, and affect large geographic areas and impact the lives of many. This disaster relief is vital and life-changing. However, we can’t wait until a disaster happens to become a part of our com-
