LOOKING BACK AS WE MOVE FORWARD
As I’m writing this we are exactly one week away from our official launch service and just a few hours away from our first service in our new location, all these changes and milestones for our church are causing me to feel just a little nostalgic!
I’m remembering how the journey of ‘prayer and discernment’ began roughly 3 years ago, how much I fought God’s leading before eventually saying yes to His call. I’m remembering the season in Atlanta where people from our Church at Grace Midtown would gather at our house and join us on ‘scouting trips’ to DC as they discerned and discovered whether they where also called to move to DC to help plant this church. I’m remembering our very first gathering in DC, 12 of us to be exact, in our living room, eating pancakes, drinking coffee and praying that God might do something powerful in our midst. I’m remembering how quickly we outgrew our living room as God added people to our community and where then able to find the ‘upper room’ on Capitol Hill, the loft space of a Starbucks where we gathered for worship for a season. I’m remembering that by God’s grace we outgrew that space too and had to move to the basement of the Hampton Inn, again God added people to our community and we where blessed to continue stepping forward in God’s mission, and I’m remembering that just when it seemed almost hopeless, like we wouldn’t be able to find a new space to meet, God came through at the last minute with our new location… a wonderful Sanctuary in DuPont Circle, a place to worship, gather and grow.
But most of all I’m remembering that God is faithful. He’s always been faithful, my heart has gone up and down, back and forth, experienced joy and fear, confidence and doubt… but God has always remained steadfast.
Thank you God for leading us to the place where we ready to launch… ready to close the door on our long season of preparation and step into the promise of a new faith community in our nations Capital. Thank you God.
Psalm 36:5 “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies”
MEET THE LAUNCH TEAM!
Time to introduce you to a member of our incredible GCC launch team. We have so many amazing people with so many different gifts and passions as part of this community, and this month’s member is no exception.
Let me introduce you to Brittany Dionisio! Brittany has been involved with the GCC launch team since August 2015 when our community began our journey in DC. As a Georgia native, she knew when the church plant was announced that she wanted to be a part of what the Lord was about to do in DC. She currently works for the International Justice Mission, or IJM, a global organization fighting for human rights issues all over the world.
Why did you decide to be a part of the GCC launch team?
I’ve always been attracted to the authenticity of Grace, and its very real awareness that the Holy Spirit is still actively speaking and moving. I think so many people in DC are looking for purpose and worth and GCC extends an invite to come, be known and experience kingdom reality. I’m about that. So I was all in from the beginning.
What do you love about the city of Washington DC?
Oh man, I love this city. It’s vibrant and diverse and almost everyone is here because they want to make a difference in the world. Washingtonians are world-changers, for better or for worse, and I love being surrounded by deeply passionate people. Also, the monuments. Come on. The Lincoln Memorial lit up at night? Yes please. But what I love most about our GCC community is that it provides a deep sense of home in a very transient city. We’re a community in which all are welcome to come, bring their junk with them, be vulnerable with one another, and experience the sweet grace of Jesus together.
How would you describe the kind of church community you want to be a part of establishing in DC?
I want to be a community known for profoundly loving people. I want us to be a safe place – for the high ranking government official and the homeless beggar living on the street. I want to us to be a church that isn’t afraid to enter into the hard, uncomfortable things within ourselves, our community and our world, and for us to bring our good God into those difficult spaces. More than anything though, I just want our church to look and sound and smell and taste like Jesus, to be a place in which the Holy Spirit is moving and healing and breaking down walls and redeeming broken things.