FOR THE ONE
WHO HAS YET TO EXPERIENCE JESUS
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.
We are in an unprecedented season at Union Chapel.
The amount of growth, both spiritually and numerically is historic! Almost two years ago, I sensed that God gave me a vision of what He wanted Union Chapel to become. The vision was pockets of greenery, surrounded by barren wasteland.
As I asked the Lord what it all meant, I sensed Him saying that the greenery are places that have dug deep wells. The call for Union Chapel to become a deep well was born. In John 4:14 Jesus says, “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
This raises the question, “How do we become a deep well?”
We become a deep well by digging deep, coming to an understanding that only Jesus will satisfy us. This can only happen when we make Jesus the one thing that we are running after, the one thing that we are prioritizing over everything else. These are the people that we are trying to raise up at Union Chapel and we believe that God is honoring this vision.
Union Chapel is digging deep and drawing from the well that never runs dry! When we fully lean into drawing deeply from Jesus, I believe that you begin to see a vision of what God wants in your life.
I imagine that vision looks a little different for everyone, but at some point, there is one thing that all of us are called to do: Which is to go with Jesus and make him known to the people around you. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gives us this new command we know today as the Great Commission.
However, as you look around, you can feel and see that it is hard to invite someone into a space where there is very little room left to join this mission. It is time to make room for people to experience Jesus with something we are calling The One Initiative.
We have chosen the name because we expect to make Union Chapel more one, in look, feel, and action. We believe that we are better as one than we are scattered and doing our own thing.
God is using Union Chapel in profound ways, but unless His presence leads us into the next phase, we do not want to be a part of it.
Let’s keep running after Jesus, He is worthy of it all!
Christopher Glotzbach Lead Pastor
Over the next two years, our entire church will be participating in an invitation to generosity that we’re naming The One Initiative. In those two years, every gift given to Union Chapel will go to “One Fund.” The One Fund will resource three Kingdom-building priorities:
One Church, One Mission, One Place.
Initiative Goals
Our Primary Goal
100% Engagement
WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO IN US
The One Initiative is first and foremost a discipleship initiative. More than anything, our desire is that this season would draw you into a closer relationship with God.
Our prayer is that God becomes the one thing you are running after. The Psalmist captures this beautifully in Psalm 27:4,
“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
Our primary goal is that every adult, student, and child engages with the Lord in The One Initiative journey. When you make Him your one thing, everything else falls into place.
Our Secondary Goal
$12.5 Million
WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO THROUGH US
Union Chapel is in an unprecedented season of growth and opportunity. Simply put, we have run out of space to continue to grow. As we dream about the future, our prayer is that Union Chapel would become a deep well—a place where people can encounter the presence and power of God.
This will happen as we connect deeply with the Lord and respond obediently to whatever He asks of us. We are one body, running together toward the One who has yet to encounter Jesus.
God is using Union Chapel in profound ways, but if His presence does not lead us into the next phase, we don’t want to take a single step forward.Through The One Initiative, we believe God will make Union Chapel one in look, feel, and action—as we pursue Him together.
