We are not made to be alone!

These words are spoken by God, our Creator, at the moment of the creation of man.

It seems that we are designed for covenant and community. We are at our best when we are connected and committed.

And yet, there is a relentless attempt to keep us from living in unity and experiencing all the good that God has intended for us.

We see the devour of broken lives, the despair of empty hearts and the desperation that these things create on display all across our world.

Deep down we know that the goodness of God is going to rise up and prevail over all evil and we believe that we are called to be proclaimers and practitioners of this glorious message.

We covenant with God, to take on this task and He promises us that He will cause us to triumph.

Staying Close To Those That We Love And To The One Who Loves Us Most … Brings His Promised Favor

Jim Payne, a Pastoral Counselor and the founder of Abiding Together, advocates for all of this and has truly made it his life mission.

“Abiding Together means dwelling, living, and remaining in intimate relationship with God, not in isolated, individualistic spirituality, but together as a community of people – people who are also learning to dwell, live, and remain in authentic, intimate relationships with each other.”

I love the clarity and conviction of this mandate and my prayer is that it will become a movement, one that captures the hearts of all of God’s sons and daughters.

Staying Close To Those That We Love And To The One Who Loves Us Most … Brings His Promised Favor

Jim goes on to confirm that he has a two-fold mission that he is committed to embrace and establish …

Authentic Relationships
The longer I live, both as a human being and as a pastoral counselor, the more convinced I am that this is what we were made for – to live in and for relationships of authenticity and intimacy with God and each other – and the more convinced I am that the root of our problems is the poverty and breakdown of our relationships with God and each other. I see this again and again in myself, in the people I counsel, in groups I facilitate, in pastors and ministry leaders I work with, and in churches I serve. Both our destruction and our restoration come through the quality of our relationships.

Intimate Communities
Because of this, Abiding Together exists to help not only relationally broken people but also relationally broken churches learn to live authentically and intimately with God and each other. We do this by providing environments of raw honesty and unconditional acceptance through Christ-Centered Counseling and Authentic Community with fellow strugglers. Our goal is to empower these very strugglers to cultivate cultures of authenticity and intimacy in their churches by implementing there what they have learned by experience here. Together in these relationships, Jesus is bringing us hope, joy, healing, change, and, ultimately, love that can transform individuals, couples, families, and whole churches.

These things resonate with my heart, they confirm to me that God is indeed speaking, and I know that He desires to empower our hearts as well.

Staying Close To Those That We Love And To The One Who Loves Us Most … Brings His Promised Favor

Our God is at work in our world and thus He will be at work in our hearts … all of us!

He will fill our lives with His sweet peace, promised favor and the power to overcome.

He will bring possibilities to all the impossibilities that we face, and He will add His potential to our passion.

He is with us; He is for us, and He will reveal His lovingkindness through us.

How great is that!

I know that I am in … and you?
-Terry-

2022 THEME
Christ Above, Christ Alone, Christ In All … This Is Our Anthem; This Is Our Call