Paul in Philippians 2, states that our service to one another and others is directly tied to Jesus Christ incarnation. Paul states that Christ, who is God, came in human form and humbled himself to the point of death on the cross. God considered the interest of others and humbled himself and we as believers should have this same mind.
The purpose of the Oakwood Immersion is to provide Christians an incarnational opportunity to: display Jesus Christ in urban areas, gain a better understanding of people who live in a difficult socio-economic status and finally learn and grow in their Christian faith.
Participants will arrive at Oakwood on a Friday evening and will immerse themselves in the community for the duration of the weekend. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the community, develop relationships with the residents and participate in a community revitalization project. We want this to be a time where Christians examine the existing conditions of people and communities in their own city and realize that God is more than able to bring hope to those in need.
NEXT 40hr IMMERSIONS:
Friday April 1-Sunday April 3, 2011
Friday September 23-Sunday September 25, 2011
If you or your group are interested in participating in an Immersion, complete the packet with your fee of $20* (payable to City of Hope Outreach) and return to:
The City of Hope Outreach
PO BOX 11474
Conway, Arkansas 72034
Read Brent Nelson's Reflections from Immersion in January 2011
Immersion is an experience unlike any other in the world. Through it you can obtain a deep since of what poverty really feels like. After the weekend ends, the world never looks quite the same.
Information about poverty and its effects on people can be found nearly everywhere. People talk about them everyday. Usually these facts come with a request for money so you to can help change the lives of so many. But facts are facts and nothing more. A fact has no use for money and when you hear a fact it may make your heart heavy but not necessarily pull at your wallet. When someone tells you a fact you may consider what should happen to change. When you read a fact that's all it ever amounts to in your mind, a fact about the world.
Immersion is not a fact. “Immersion” means, the condition of being engaged wholly or deeply and that statement could almost sum up the entire experience. You do not hear or learn or read facts, you live through them. You feel the weight of what these facts mean. You learn the true impact of every fact you've ever heard when someone told you about poverty.
These facts hurt. As you learn about what it truly means to live in poverty, you learn about yourself. Pride, the part of you that made you a little too busy to help out or made money just to tight to give, breaks and falls away to humbleness. Selfish arrogance gives way to selfless giving. Judgments and presuppositions become kindness and understanding as you really begin to feel the struggle that comes along with poverty.
Immersion puts you in this place so you can really learn what the life consists of. Forty hours, by comparison, amounts to a tiny glimpse through a foggy window of what impoverished life holds, but this glimpse changes lives and minds in a profound way. No one finishes Immersion the same person as when they started. It changes things.
If you haven't experienced Immersion, you ought to. It could be forty of the most pivotal hours in your life and the only way you'll ever know is to go.
