As we’ve been sharing over the past number of weeks, we are praising God for the ways He has been working in and around Coracle!
In 2022, we went through a 40 day process of corporate discernment and were given a clear vision: to form “A community…with a mission of 1) offering ministries of formation through rest, welcome, teaching, and feeding for people who feel lost, or are spiritually hungry, or are in need of healing, or are burdened, or are seeking deeper spiritual formation and 2) providing food for the immigrant, the refugee, and the materially poor in our midst.”
We envisioned this happening in a ministry center that we trusted God would provide, and miraculously God did, on the third floor of Greenbrier Baptist Church in south Arlington.
And then God kept moving, a lot. As you’ll recall, earlier this year we were delighted when Central Union Mission discerned coming to Greenbrier on the second floor below us to open a Comprehensive Family Resource Center, with an even larger vision of ministering to the immigrant and refugee community in northern Virginia. We had a sense even then that this would enable our ministry to focus more of our energy on the ministries of spiritual formation which we do well.
As of September 2024, the Mission is now offering many of the ministries we’d envisioned and more, and notably distributing food to almost 200 households each week! That part of the vision that we saw is now being beautifully realized in ways we did not foresee.
Over ten weeks this fall, Coracle offered ESOL classes four times per week (plus, a conversational evening), along with other ways we’ve been able to come alongside our neighbors (thank you to our donors and partners who enable us to be in this place and offer ministry!). Several of our ESOL offerings were in partnership with the Mission. The Mission also started offering job placement services, legal aid, a parenting class, a citizenship class, and a Bible study, with computer training coming soon.
If you had told me a year ago that the vision (and more) we had seen for a ministry center in south Arlington to “provide food for the immigrant and refugee” would be being incarnated in twelve months at this scope and scale, I would have told you “You’re crazy, that’s not possible.” And yet, here it is! Jesus did indeed say, “With God, all things are possible” (Mt. 19.26). Coracle saw a vision, moved in the direction of it with our community’s help, and now it’s happening, even if we’re not the ones leading it or responsible for it. For this we praise God and are truly grateful for the presence of Central Union Mission and the way God has begun using this space for the blessing of many!
In light of this remarkable development, the Coracle board (with others) discerned that, since the Mission is significantly fulfilling the second part of what came out of our season of corporate discernment, this frees and compels us to clearly focus on the first part of that mission: “Offering ministries of formation through rest, welcome, teaching, and feeding for people who feel lost, or are spiritually hungry, or are in need of healing, or are burdened, or are seeking deeper spiritual formation.” We are energized by this, in this season of disorientation in the church and culture. And we know that our focus on spiritual formation for Kingdom action will yield our next direction as God draws us deeper into this journey with Him.
So in this moment, for such a time as this, Coracle is doubling down on providing ministries of spiritual formation in northern Virginia, Baltimore, Corhaven, and online. We’re in much discussion about what that might look like. And a big question we’re discerning is how God would have us use our current space that God provided so clearly in south Arlington. If you’re excited by the possibilities of what a “center for formation, healing, and action” could look like in northern Virginia and our other locations of activity, please reach out!