Dear fellow believers in the Treasure Valley,
As many of you may know, we at Cole Community Church have over the past few years experienced sorrow, pain and brokenness through our church fracturing into different parts.
Thankfully, we are currently in a new season of Revitalization, where we are getting help through various church partnerships. In this season we are moving forward, asking the Lord to renew us and use us for His purposes.
We understand that the difficult period of trial and pain for Cole Community affected many people, and that there is a historical timeline and church culture that led to those events. There has been so much good fruit in Cole’s history, but there has also been a lack of health that led us to where we have arrived. Now, we are wanting to walk forward in being a healthy church that makes healthy disciples of Jesus.
We know that there has been pain for those who have left Cole Community and pain for those that have remained. Members, elders, pastors, and indeed Christians in the valley have all suffered due to us having broken relationships instead of oneness in Christ. We are currently turning a page and entering a new chapter in our church’s history, but we don’t want to turn that page without a recognition of past hurt and an invitation to those who want to heal.
Jesus said, “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)
We know we can’t fix past hurts. But, as we turn to a new season of church life, we wanted to make this final open recognition and apology on behalf of Cole Community Church to both our current members and those who have been a part of the church family in the past. We recognize it’s right for us to acknowledge the pain and hurt of all involved.
In addition, since I (Kirk Crager – Lead Pastor) was not connected with Cole Community in any way previously, I want to give you an invitation. If you are struggling with hurt or pain and would like someone to listen to your story and pray with you, it would be my pleasure to do so. My hope is that if getting beyond the hurt has been hard for you, this will help you turn the page to a new chapter in the same way Cole Community is now doing.
If you would like to meet, talk or pray, please contact me at kirk(at)colecommunity.org
Finally, I want to invite you to read Psalm 80 (below) as a prayer both for Cole Community and all those that were scattered through it’s fracturing.
Psalm 80 ESV
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River. Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Kirk Crager on behalf of the Cole Community Eldership Team