Member Mike Schuetz (Attending Since 2008)

God led my wife and I to Sojourn after a period of prayer and fasting about where to live and where to go to church. We had initially ruled out the Germantown neighborhood, and I remember saying “there is no way we will live there!” However, after attending a service at Sojourn, and hearing about their heart to reach the neighborhood for Christ, God changed our minds and we were committed to this neighborhood.

A house that we had previously ruled out was still on the market and was two blocks from Sojourn! We bought the house and now we cannot imagine living anywhere else. We are so thankful for how this church has equipped us to reach out to our neighbors and desires to resource community groups to bring about city-wide renewal.

I think the three things that Sojourn has deeply instilled in my soul are:

1. The five gospel identities: worshiper, family, servant, missionary, learner. I came from a context where I thought in terms of the “Navigator’s Wheel,” (Word, Prayer, Fellowship, Evangelism). While these categories are great, I love how the five identities are more than just Christian disciplines, but God-given identities that depict a wholistic life of Christian obedience.
2. Gospel ministry can affect everything. I knew this in principle, but I’ve seen it in practice in this church. Who else employs a full-time artist to run an art-gallery for the glory of God?
3. The theology of mercy ministry and its relationship with evangelism. The distinctive emphasis on mercy ministry has opened my eyes to the theology and significance of the concept of mercy in the Christian life.