Baptism
“I'm getting baptized because I have opened my heart, mind, and soul fully to God and have committed to do his will and to live my life more like Jesus. I experienced a spiritual awakening the last 4 months- starting with participating in Learning to Live. My family and I received incredible blessings and gifts from God that I couldn't believe- I was just like "wow," God is bestowing these gifts on my life because he loves me. I want to get baptized and memorialize this moment as a renewal of my faith in him and the covenant that he has with me and my family.”
- Mayra Chong-Qui Torres
Worship Team
“In some instances, seeing God move in real-time can be quite overwhelming when you see how everything connects. In the last few months and with the help of TDC I’ve grown in my own understanding that surrendering everything, equals zero resistance, allowing total vulnerability to the Wave of Change. In my time of personal healing and growth through the duration of the Pandemic, God’s hand of protection over me was extended to District Church, and it became my place of Safety and Community. I’m immensely grateful for the Lives I have connected with so far and I look forward to those I connect within the near future!” Romans 8:18 “For I consider the sufferings of today are not to be compared to the glory that is yet to be revealed in us”
- Darren Plummer
Just Homes
“Just Homes has been a blessed opportunity to return to my social work roots and increase my own awareness, as well as the awareness of others, on the history and present issues in affordable housing. It has also given me the opportunity to learn how to support the many impressive organizations doing strong work in this area, making it clear we do not need to reinvent the wheel, but support those who are already in-depth experts and on the ground in this area. It has also blessed me with the opportunity to lead, guide and support those, especially in my Housing Justice Discipleship Cohort, to mobilize their desire to act and actually engage in effective advocacy- such as one of my cohort members delivering live testimony advocating for the Committee of the Whole adopt the DC Mayor's housing programs budget (which they did!). I am so grateful for the ways Just Homes has allowed me to fulfill God's calling to help others, and serve my neighbors and brother and sisters in Chris by engaging in this timely and important ministry.”
- Ella Short
Baptism
“I was baptized as an infant but over the past 10 years of being a disciple of Jesus, being baptized again has been put on my heart. As I've learned more about the Holy Spirit at The District Church, it was clear it was guiding me to take this step. It was something that came with fear as well since I have been leading in the church and in ministries for almost a decade. I wasn't sure what people would think or say about seeing me get baptized like this. For me, this choice was an act of obedience to this calling to join more closely with Him and to take a public and personal step of faith to join more intimately with Jesus and to combat fear itself.” - Willie Hollingsworth
Kids' City
Andreas Jr Roberson was so excited to give a portion of his birthday money the first week that a giving box was posted in the Kids’ City hallway. Andreas Jr and his sister Giselle have been giving a portion of their allowance money every other week. Their mom, Taylor says, “We love when they remind us Sunday morning, ‘Mom and Dad, we can't forget our gifts to God!’” The kids both said they give money to the church because God heals them and gives money to them.
Small Groups
“Since beginning Multiply, God has grown and developed the Ballston/Virginia Square Small Group in ways we could not begin to imagine. The group, which in previous semesters typically had ten members, nearly doubled at the start of the Multiply series. As we journeyed through the difficult topics of generosity, complete commitment, and sacrifice, we expected a drop-off in attendance and participation, and yet God continued to deepen the spiritual maturity of the group. Our conversations went deeper, relationships were strengthened, and spiritual disciplines developed; we even had a number of people attend in-person Worship for the first time! Even now, as God continues to raise up fresh leaders from our group to launch new Small Groups in Arlington, we are reminded that “Multiply” was not a six-week sermon series or a fundraising goal, but a daily process of submitting to, and relying on, God to grow and strengthen our community!”
- Brayden and Maggie Parker
Church Wide Prayer
At the end of August we participated in a church-wide prayer walk around the neighborhood we gather in every week, Columbia Heights. One of our main objectives was to pray for God to open the door to a permanent Sunday home for us in the neighborhood.There was an awesome time of worship together and then the whole congregation split up into groups to walk through the neighborhood equipped with prayer points and strategic stops along multiple routes. Groups stopped in front of local businesses, schools, other places of worship, and main hubs of the neighborhood like Columbia Heights Plaza and Meridian Hill Park. People came out of their apartments or off the street to ask what was going on, ask for prayer, and even join in song. Many in our congregation were moved by really experiencing the needs of the neighborhood for the first time. It was a beautiful expression of our identity as a church for the city.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” Psalm 127:1
Cecilia, Founder of Creative Hands, first met Aisha in a refugee camp and learned of her story which was filled with shame, guilt, and rejection. Aisha is a 32-year-old mother of 7 children. Her oldest child is 20 years old so Aisha must have been only 12 when she was married and had her first child. Her early years of marriage were relatively normal in a village in Syria until her first husband died and she had to flee with her 5 children. The journey took her to Turkey where she met her current husband, with whom she has two children. Aisha married him because she was being harassed by men in Turkey and she wanted protection for her and her children. Aisha is solely responsible for her 5 children from her first marriage as her second husband will only take care of the two that are his. Once Aisha met Cecilia she came to Creative Hands to learn and coming from a place of desperation, she learned fast. It is through our generosity and partnership as a church that Creative Hands can hire, and bring healing and restoration to women like Aisha. Through our expanded giving, Creative Hands hopes to hire Aisha full-time so she can support her large family.
- Creative Hands, Greece
Pictured above: Church Planting Pastor Julio, his wife Elizabeth, and their daughter.
We were able to give $75,000 to Compassion International to help plant a church and Child Development Center in Igleico Nueva Vida, in Sucre, Colombia. This amount means that The District Church alone is able to fully fund the project. This is a new partnership for us with Compassion International and combining a church with a child development center is a new venture for their organization.
“I have been attending The District Church since October2018 when my friend and brother Abe Kim introduced me to the Church. In 2019, I went back home to Zambia for about a year and came back in 2020 for graduate school at American University. Initially I had a job on campus, and everything was going very well but during the summer of 2021, I got an email from my supervisor that I wasn’t going to continue working with them because of lack of funding. Being a first-generation and an international student, the job I had on campus was my only source of income. So, when I lost the job, I was so devastated because I didn’t know where I would get money for the next rent or to buy food. I was so depressed that I couldn’t even sleep for about 3 days straight. I was almost giving up on life and school. But I decided to do one of the most difficult things for me, reaching out to others for help. I started reaching out to friends. When I reached out to Abe, he told me about the church Benevolence Fund. I also decided to reach out to Pastor Amy Graham for counseling. PastorAmy’s counseling sessions really helped me: I was able to sleep well again, eat, find joy in every little thing again, and I have never felt depressed again. Thanks to the support I have been receiving via Benevolence Fund: my faith has been made stronger, I was able to graduate in June 2022 with a master’s degree, and I got my first job offer starting in September 2022! My encouragement to everyone who might be going through a hard time is to reach out to others, it saved my life and career. Thank you so much Pastor Amy, Abe, Benevolence Fund Team, everyone who has been praying for me, everyone who has been giving to TDC, and above all thanks be to God.” - Sharpy Maluba
DC127 Story: Since our inception, The District Church has been instrumental in the growth and expansion of DC127. DC127 serves well over 90 families each year through our Communities for Families program and we touch an additional 50 households with our Trauma Informed Care workshops, and Foster Care Information sessions. They recently shared a story in their newsletter of one of their families. A teen mom, Jessica, who, lacking support and resources was considering giving her two young children up for adoption. By getting into DC127’s programs Jessica was able to find stability, a job, and keep her family together. Jessica said, “I can say if it wasn’t for DC127 I don’t know where I would be today.”
This Multiply season has created opportunities for God to challenge our faith and reveal His outrageous generosity towards us. We wanted to share two ways that God moved in our finances when we made commitments to give to His church.
The first was when we made our Multiply commitment in February. We leaned heavily on the passage in Malachi 3, where God says to Israel, “Test me in this (giving a tithe) and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” In response to that promise, we had some challenging conversations and difficult prayer sessions, but ultimately decided to significantly increase our giving to a point that made us uncomfortable. Looking at our budget, we were somewhat unsure about whether we’d be able to cover some known expenses for this year.
God responded in an amazing way. The NEXT DAY, David was unexpectedly promoted at work, with a salary increase that fully covered the increase in our giving that we’d committed to the night before!
The second one took place over the summer. In June, Amanda was laid off from her job due to her company's financial struggles. She was granted three months’ severance, which was due to expire in September, during TDC's week of prayer and fasting. As the time approached for her severance to run out, we decided to maintain our Multiply tithe at the same level we had committed in February, despite the loss of income and no new job offers in sight. We fasted and prayed God would give Amanda multiple job offers before the end of the week. We didn’t know how it would work out, but trusted that God had a plan to provide. Once again,
God responded with perfect timing. On the very day that Amanda received her final severance check, Amanda received a job offer! And the following day, she received a second! These two situations have completely blown us away, demonstrating God’s outrageous timing, His desire to provide, and His responsiveness to our trust in Him. We hope
these two situations encourage you and challenge you to lean into God’s provision even more than you already are.Amanda and David Forsey
