Partner Stories
To Every Neighbor
By Pastor Zachary Reeves
Westwood Alliance Church, Mansfield, Ohio
Adam’s* image and appearance were all that mattered. Before Christ came into his life, Adam was obsessed with working out at the gym. Previously, he had worked with two elders from Westwood Alliance Church (Ohio), and he recently moved down the street from the church. Because of the connections he has at Westwood, Adam came to the church when his marriage was in trouble. He made a profession of faith but did not continue in it. Adam never allowed God to change his heart. He says, “I tried to be better, but my heart was dead in sin, and God was not the center of my life.”
Adam stopped attending church and went back to his old ways again—until things hit rock bottom. He found out his wife was having an affair. Adam was crushed! He came back to church and allowed God to change his heart. “How do I know things are different this time?” he asks. “This time, I am not looking at myself, but to God. You might think I would hate my wife, but I love her more now than I ever have. I am afraid for her soul, but I love her and am sorry for what I put her through.” Adam is connected to a group of men in the church who are working with Him on being a more loving and caring husband. He is engaged in worship and is seeking God through His Word, praying for his marriage to be restored.
Our mission at Westwood Alliance Church is: “To know Christ, and to make Him known: to every neighbor, and in every nation.” We are a small congregation of 180 people settled in an “over-churched” area of Ohio. It all began with a capital finance campaign during which God gave a heart of giving to Westwood, empowering the congregation to pledge more than $600,000 over a three-year period. For 20 years prior to this, the congregation had met in a gymnasium and had been feeling the limitations of the building. In 2006, with pledge monies and a loan from the Alliance Development Fund, the new sanctuary (seating up to 350) was completed. Westwood now has a permanent home where members can continue to reach out to neighbors like Ol’ Craig.
Craig had been smoking for at least 40 years. He came to Westwood because the church is just around the corner from his house, and he knows several people in the congregation. Craig does not believe that smoking itself is a sin; but it is sin to be mastered by anything other than Christ (1 Corinthians 6:12–13). In order to overcome his smoking habit, he contacted every agency he could find. Many organizations didn’t return his calls for a month. Finally, after years of self-help, Craig confessed his sin publicly, repented, and asked for prayer to overcome this addiction. When his small group prayed that night, “the desire for cigarettes left my body,” Craig says. He has not smoked in nine months and states, “I have not had the desire for one, because my desire to follow God doesn’t leave room for cigarettes.”
At Westwood, we look to God and ask Him to help us fill the church with people who will love Christ with all of their hearts and are willing to pay any price to follow Him. We believe this will only happen through the preaching of God’s Word in a God-centered, Christ-exalting, and unabashed way. Every ministry at Westwood Alliance Church confronts people with the truth that Jesus came to die for us and that we must lay down everything to follow Him.
*Names changed to protect identity
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