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Health & Fitness

Churches Gather Together in Support of Unity in the Community

Several Oswego churches will gather together in worship on Father's Day Sunday (June 15th) to remind everyone to work together for the greater good; the whole community is invited.

The mission statement opens with a reference to Ephesians 4:3-6: "The people have ONE faith, ONE Lord, ONE God, ONE baptism, and ONE hope." It concludes by stating, "We refuse to live in isolation or competition."

That is the premise—and the promise—of the Oswego pastors who meet weekly for prayer, encouragement and the sharing of ideas. Over 10 different church pastors have gathered weekly at Wheatland Salem – Oswego to pray and share a deep commitment for the Oswego community over the past few years.

Pastor Bob Butler of Wheatland Salem-Oswego, is credited as one of the "moving force" behind ONE Worship.

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"We bring our diversity under the unity of God's work in Christ," he said "It is our hope that more will come to be a part of this movement. The Lord is calling us to act as ONE who believes Jesus is the only way to eternal life."

On Sunday, June 15th, at 9;30 a.m., six Oswego churches will sponsor the first annual ONE Worship service at PrairieFest, on the main stage. An estimated 600 people are expected to attend.

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Participating will be Redeemer Community Church, Resolution Church, Rivers Edge Fellowship, Source Church, Cornerstone Christian Church and Wheatland Salem-Oswego but the entire community is invited.

"We wanted it to be public—not to be showy but to be a public testimony," Pastor Robert Livingston of Source Church said.

The expenses for the event are being shouldered equally between the churches; they will not be collecting an offering at the event. However, the community is being asked to bring items for a church led community wide back to school clinic to be held in mid August. In a similar demonstration of unity the pastors along with a collection of musicians from all the participating churches will share a message of hope.

"We are grateful to God that he has given us pastor’s unity around the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So as a group we wanted to share the love of Christ not as individual churches but as the larger body of Christ represented in Oswego." Pastor Jamie Maxim said.

Each of the six pastors will be involved in the service in some capacity, but it's not about them.

"It's about the community," said Pastor Erick Ewaskowitz of Resolution Church. "It's not about what separates us but what is held in common”

"It's really cool to be connected with a group of pastors who don't view each other as 'the competition,' but as extended family. I hope that many, many other people get a taste of that themselves through the event at Prairie Fest. It's going to be a great family reunion, with everyone invited." Pastor Josh Fenska of the Redeemer Church said.

Some of the pastors have been meeting regularly with one another for years now and this seems like the most logical next step. For too long the church has been anything but ONE Church. We look to change that so the world will know that what holds us together is greater than anything that segregates us.

"I've been pastoring [in Oswego] for 20 years and have known the Pastors of Harvest and Cornerstone Christian Church the entire time I've been here," Pastor Frank of Rivers Edge Fellowship said. "We've been friends for a long time."

"God has given us a sweet fellowship in the Spirit.”  Pastor Jamie said.  “We have been praying together for a while now and the discussions about the expanse of the kingdom are encouraging.  I really look forward to our prayer time on Tuesday mornings as a result.”

The pastors' time together in prayer and in sharing their individual and corporate needs has empowered them to impact Oswego and help each other out in many ways.

The Oswego pastors started talking about what they could accomplish together that they couldn't do alone. There have been many ideas on what will happen next. A needs clinic is on the horizon for August and many have talked of a joint serve the community day.

The pastors also support each other's niche ministries as well as some of the dynamic ministries offered by the park district, the Y, the city and the clubs in town, Pastor Josh said.

And, they have even traded pulpits for a day.

"Robert and Josh switched," Pastor Erick of Resolution said. "They preached for each other so their churches could see the camaraderie that is developing. Even Former CCC pastor Carter Moss has also been helping with the proclamation around town.”

Pastor Frank, the "elder" of the group, said, “I'm excited to see God knitting his Church together in my hometown.”

"It's time for there to be a big C of Jesus Christ in Oswego," Bob Reid said. "We all have to put our aside our pretenses and agendas." 

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