par Noliani Clemente | Nos dirigeants
TOM: We are grateful for the opportunity to share how faithful God has been to us. We are also thankful to be part of what God is doing here at One Voice. Some of you know that before coming to OVF in April 2023, we lived 10 years in North Africa. Before that we were in southern Spain for 15 years. We had the privilege of sharing the Good News of Jesus and serving the growing church in those places. We had to learn languages and adapt to new cultures, like many of you do. But we saw God provide people in every place — brothers and sisters in Christ — who welcomed us and helped us integrate into our new lives.
JANE: One of the hardest things was watching our children suffer, especially in our first year in Spain. Our son, John, said: “I don’t fit in here! I can’t speak Spanish. I’m too tall and too blond. They’re Catholic and we’re Evangelicals. I just want to be a normal American kid!” Our children often felt like outsiders and they missed our family back home. But God was faithful in providing good teachers and friends. Now our sons say about themselves: “parts made in the USA, assembled in Spain.”
All of our children are adults now, and the experience of living overseas greatly influenced them. Julia is a bi-lingual lawyer who lives in Arlington. She is married to a Bolivian man and they have 3 children. John works for a multinational energy company in Santiago, Chile and is married to a Chilean woman. They will be moving to this area next month. Our youngest, Tim, is a medical doctor with a heart to serve God in needy areas of the world. He just moved to DC this summer for further training at the National Children’s Hospital. In the past 25 years we have never lived in the same place.
So it will be a HUGE blessing to have all 3 of our children close by so that we can do life together in-person! This November, they will help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary!
A few years ago, while in North Africa, we started thinking about moving back to the US. We wanted to integrate into a new church community and get involved in ministry while we were still young enough. Then my mother had a stroke and needed fulltime care. So we moved back to my family’s home in McLean to help take care of her. One Voice was just the kind of church and ministry we had prayed for! Being part of the life of this community has made our adjustment to life back in the United States much easier than we had feared. We had wondered how we would fit into a homogeneous American church after starting and supporting multicultural churches overseas for 25 years? God again showed his faithfulness to us by bringing us here to One Voice Fellowship and made you our church family.
TOM: So that accounts for the past 25 years. But like we said, we are about to complete 50 years of marriage! Our journey has not been ordinary. It has taken some very unusual twists and turns. But Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, has been at work in us.
I grew up on a farm in the far northern part of Michigan, the 7th of 10 children. My father died when I was 11 and I remember the shock and crying out to God: “God, you’ve taken my daddy. Would you please be my Daddy?” Someone who knew my father showed me the love of God by taking me to a weekly Christian club for young boys, where I memorized many Bible verses. At Summer Bible camp my cabin counselor led me in saying the Sinner’s prayer to receive Jesus into my heart. I said the words, but I didn’t really understand what it meant to follow Jesus.
10 years later, I was in the Navy and very confused about life. One day a young evangelist on a beach in France challenged me to serve Jesus with my life. After I had proudly quoted many Bible verses to her, she said, “You know so much about Jesus. Why aren’t you living for him?!”
Her challenge rocked my world. I could quote the Bible verses, but did I believe them? I realized I wanted to believe, but I didn’t know how. I cried out to God for help. I asked Him to give me the faith to believe. He was my only hope. He answered my prayer and changed my life that night. I began reading the Bible every free moment I had. I got involved with a Christian ministry called the Navigators. I learned how to memorize Scripture, share the gospel, and lead Bible studies with the men on my ship. I believed God wanted to use me to preach the gospel, so I made plans to go to Bible college after the Navy.
JANE: I grew up right here in northern Virginia. My father was Catholic, but my mother didn’t believe in God. When I was 5, I developed juvenile arthritis. It is a painful condition that flared up every spring and put me in a wheelchair. One time, when I was in pain, I asked my father why God let me suffer. He wisely told me that it was so that I would be able to understand and help others who suffered. That gave me hope.
When I was 8, I understood that Jesus died for my sins, and I promised to serve him with my life. Singing became a way for me to express my faith and my ideas. I taught myself to play the guitar and joined a music group at church. I wanted to serve God with my talents and energy, but I didn’t really know the gospel. The gospel isn’t about what you and I can do for God, but what He has done for us!
When I was 17, God showed me that I needed to surrender all my plans and let Him direct my life. After months of spiritual struggle, I finally let go of the things I was holding on to for my identity and sense of worth. I asked him to fill me with his Holy Spirit. I began to read the Bible and God’s Word came alive to me!
As young adults, Tom and I were both looking for a way to serve God. We had been brought up with the “American Dream.” That Dream tells you that you can be anything you want to be. But that wasn’t our dream. We wanted our lives to be significant, to matter for God.
Now imagine the United States in the early 1970’s. There was a lot of social unrest over the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Young people were looking for alternatives in drugs, sex, and religion. There was a revival among young people in America called the “Jesus Movement.”
In 1973, Tom and I both happened to be in Barcelona, Spain. Tom’s Navy ship stopped in the port, and I was studying at the University of Barcelona. We had not met one another yet. We were both recruited by a group from the Jesus Movement called “The Children of God.” We met each other only after we had joined the group. A year and a half later, we got married in Madrid. While in The Children of God, we lived in Spain, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
TOM: While in this group we saw God provide for us in miraculous ways and people came to faith in Jesus through our evangelistic efforts. But there were also false teachings and harmful practices that got progressively worse. After 5 years, we left the group. We felt abused and broken both spiritually and emotionally.
We felt a strong feeling of failure after we realized how much The Children of God deceived us. We sometimes thought, “Jesus, can you still love me, even though I’ve been such a failure?” It took time for us to understand those experiences. But once again, God provided wonderful friends, counselors, and pastors to help us find our way.
We really wanted to go back overseas, but God was not in a hurry. He had so much to teach us. For the next 20 years, while we furthered our formal education, had our children and participated in healthy churches, God was teaching us about His grace. Isaiah 40 describes God as a shepherd who “gently leads those with young.” He gently led us and showed us his steadfast love through solid biblical teaching and in the ordinary rhythms of life and work.
We started seeing the Gospel in a new light. We saw that that the Gospel is not just the entryway into the Christian life. The Gospel is our daily food. We started seeing our sins of pride, judging others, complaining, speaking bad about others, and far worse things. We realized that even when we did good deeds, our motives were often mixed. We found the only remedy was preaching the Gospel to ourselves. We must remind ourselves of our sinful motives, words, and deeds; AND, we must also remember God’s never-failing grace and love for us. We learned what genuine, honest repentance looked like. In these ways, we experienced the joy and freedom that flows into our lives when we confess our sins and run to the arms of Jesus.
JANE: We still wanted to live cross-culturally and share the Good News with people who had never heard it before. But we weren’t trying to save the world anymore. We knew that only God could do that! But, we were so wrong before, so very deceived in the Children of God. Could we trust our ability to make wise decisions? We desperately needed God to direct our steps. Our church supported an organization that specialized in helping people see their brokenness and need for Christ. This organization valued people over programs and understood that God works through weak people just as much, if not more, than through strong people. We have happily served with that organization and grown in our faith for the past 27 years.
Jesus is our Shepherd and he leads us beside still waters; He restores our souls. He leads us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. He is faithful and good all the time!
And until we see him face to face, we will still need to repent of our fears and sins. Our hearts are sometimes tempted by fear or failure. We can be tempted to find our worth in what we do, rather than in what He has done for us.
In Revelation 3 Jesus said, 19 ”I warn and correct those I love. So be sincere, and turn away from your sins. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. I will eat with that person, and they will eat with me.”
It is a joyous thing to turn away from sin and welcome Jesus into our lives.
TOM: God reminds us in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
What about you? How has God been working in your life? Do you need him to give you faith to believe? Do you need him to deliver you from the bondage of false teaching? Do you need to repent of finding your worth in what you do for God, instead of thanking him for Christ’s perfect righteousness given freely to those who trust in Him? Can you trust Him to work through you as you put your trust in Him?
When some religious people asked Jesus what was the work of God, Jesus answered: “The work of God is to believe in the one he sent.” That starts with believing he is who he said is: the Son of God who came to save sinners! And that believing continues to grow and deepen as we repent of our sins and trust him with every aspect of our lives. He is worthy!
par Chris Sicks | À propos de One Voice
The Lord created us to be in real, deep relationships with one another. We all need to know who we can talk to about our sin and our struggles. We need to weep and rejoice with our brothers and sisters, and help one another when life gets hard.
These kinds of deep relationships can be formed in many ways at OVF: On Sunday nights in the classroom, during dinner, and in worship. Life Groups are one of the best places to build deep friendships with a small number of people. We also connect with one another in women’s and men’s prayer meetings, and during annual retreats and picnics.
However, even with all these good activities, people can feel unknown, overlooked, forgotten, or alone. Our Care Ministry is based on biblical principles, with the goal of actively praying for the congregation, seeking the help and power of the Good Shepherd as He works among us.
The vision of the OVF Care Ministry is “to strengthen and encourage each other in the faith, through prayer and personal Christian relationships.” We want everyone in the church to be known, and also to know where they can turn when they need help.
Every member of One Voice is assigned to a care group. We also include anyone who has been regularly attending our church for three months or longer. Each group of 25-30 people is assigned to a Care Team. Each Care Team is led by an elder with other godly men and women who are OVF members. These leaders cannot meet all your needs, and they are not professional counselors or therapists. Prayer is the focus of their ministry.
Goals for the OVF Care Ministry:
- Cover church members in prayer.
- Help members feel seen, known, and connected to the leadership and others at OVF.
- Monitor the congregation, to see who is disconnected, wandering from God, or hurting.
- Provide you with someone you can call for help or prayer.
- Direct you to other sources of help when necessary.
The Care Ministry does not replace Life Groups. If you are not in a Life Group now, please talk to us about that. Life Groups are the best place to give and receive help and encouragement.
Caring for the entire church is the work of the entire church. We all need a network of relationships as we face the challenges of life. Your Care Team leaders are one part of that network. We are here to pray for you, and who you can contact when you need help.
You can learn about the biblical basis for our Care Ministry by watching or reading this sermon.
If you have any questions, please ask one of the men or women on your Care Team! If you don’t know who your Care Team leaders are, contact our church administrator:
sooyeons.hanovfchurchonevoicefellowshiporgcom
par Naomi Sicks | La diversité
Lorsque Chris a partagé pour la première fois son idée de chanter la Doxologie dans différentes langues, j’étais sceptique.
La pensée de notre congrégation internationale chantant simultanément dans toutes leurs langues sonnait céleste.
Mais pourquoi le faire avec la Doxologieà l’ancienne ?
L’idée a fait ramper ma peau hippie-chrétienne.
Quand j’étais enfant, visitant les églises liturgiques de mes grands-parents, je n’ai jamais compris tout ce qu’il faut faire pour se tenir debout et s’asseoir.
Les lectures réactives sonnaient comme une mer de voix monotones qui semblaient peu sincères à propos des mots qu’elles récitaient.
Alors pourquoi chanter la Doxologie dans une église comme One Voice ?
Eh bien, vous pouvez imaginer ma surprise devant les larmes qui coulaient sur mes joues alors que je commençais à le chanter pour la première fois lors de la pratique de l’équipe de louange.
L’arrangement d’Andrew est émouvant et magnifique.
Nous avons chanté la Doxologie une fois en anglais avant de répéter la strophe deux fois dans nos propres langues : espagnol, français, chinois, coréen, ourdou, dari, amharique et anglais.
Du coup, je ne pouvais même plus chanter !
Ma gorge se serra tandis que des larmes de joie coulaient sur mon visage.
Rien ne m’a préparé au son magnifique de nombreuses langues louant Dieu d’une seule voix.
Pendant que nous le chantions en louange la semaine suivante, j’ai regardé autour de moi les visages de mes chers amis du monde entier.
Leurs expressions sont passées de la concentration lorsqu’ils chantaient en anglais à la joie lorsqu’ils sont passés aux langues qu’ils ont grandi (ce que nous appelons les langues de leur cœur).
Le moment était vraiment un aperçu du paradis.
Des gens de nombreuses tribus et langues chantant ensemble d’une seule voix, avec le cœur, adorant notre unique Père céleste.
J’ai été humiliée et honorée de retourner auprès de mon cher mari et de lui dire: «Vous aviez raison!»
par Chris Sicks | Nos dirigeants
Clément Tendo
Pour moi, One Voice Fellowship est « du-jamais-vu », quelque chose que je n’ai jamais vu auparavant. Et pourtant, je suis extrêmement excité à cause de mon intérêt pour les chansons de différentes langues et genres et de la façon dont elles peuvent être utilisées dans le culte. Je crois qu’une église remplie de l’Esprit doit tendre la main à toutes les nations dans leur contexte avec l’évangile sans compromis de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. One Voice représente ce que l’Église du Christ est appelée à être alors qu’elle se prépare pour le souper des noces de l’Agneau, où les gens de toutes les tribus et de toutes les langues adoreront ensemble notre grand Dieu (Apocalypse 19 :6-10 ; 5 :9-10) .
J’ai grandi dans un foyer croyant en la Bible, quelque chose que je n’attribue qu’à la grâce de Dieu. Pourtant, en regardant ma vie, je ne dirais pas que cette bénédiction m’a épargné la tentation et le péché. En continuant dans la foi, je me rends compte du nombre de mes péchés, mais aussi de la grandeur et de la puissance de mon Sauveur Jésus-Christ. Je remercie Dieu pour chaque moment de succès, d’anxiété, d’inquiétude, de doute et d’incertitude que j’ai eu. Ils me rappellent que Dieu doit rester la lumière à travers laquelle je vois toutes les lumières (Psaume 36:9). Lorsque je lutte, mes sources de réconfort et de refuge sont la recherche de Dieu par la prière, le rappel des prières qu’il a exaucées, le chant et la musique gospel et l’étude de la parole de Dieu. Dans les ténèbres profondes, j’en suis venu à voir qu’il n’y a pas d’autre espoir pour moi que de faire confiance quotidiennement et patiemment en Dieu et de ne pas m’appuyer sur ma propre compréhension (Proverbes 3:5-6).
Au cours de mes études à l’Université biblique africaine d’Ouganda, j’ai examiné l’état de l’église en Afrique et j’ai réalisé que la plupart des pasteurs sont passionnés et zélés pour l’évangile, mais ont peu de formation sur la façon de gérer correctement la Parole de vérité (2 Timothée 2 :15). J’ai ressenti le besoin de partager ce que j’étudiais avec ces ministres de l’Évangile afin que la connaissance et la passion puissent travailler ensemble pour l’avancement de l’Évangile. En tant que personne consciente que Dieu me façonne encore jour après jour, ma prière est que Dieu fasse de moi un instrument entre ses mains et un mendiant quotidien qui montre aux autres mendiants où ils peuvent trouver le pain de vie, à travers l’enseignement, la prédication, et chanter comme le Seigneur conduit. Mes études actuelles au Westminster Theological Seminary sont difficiles mais me façonnent et me sanctifient à bien des égards. Je suis équipé, par la puissance du Saint-Esprit, pour travailler à mon salut avec crainte et tremblement à cause de l’œuvre que Dieu fait quotidiennement en moi (Philippiens 2:12-13).
Un stage dans une église locale est requis pour mon diplôme de maîtrise en théologie, j’ai donc prié pour que Dieu m’aide à trouver une église pour m’aider à grandir en appliquant ce que j’apprends à Westminster. Merci à Dieu pour la personne aimante et humble du pasteur Chris, qui m’a appelé à faire partie de One Voice Fellowship en tant que stagiaire en pastorale et en louange, ce que je considère comme une prière exaucée. J’espère et prie qu’en nous servant les uns les autres et en nous unissant d’une seule voix pour adorer notre Dieu (Romains 15:5-7), nous continuerons à grandir dans la connaissance et la grâce de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ (2 Pierre 3:18 ) pour l’édification les uns des autres, pour notre joie et surtout pour la gloire de Dieu (Romains 11 :36 ; 1 Corinthiens 10 :31).
par Chris Sicks | Nos dirigeants
Kashif, sa femme, Sana, et leur fille
Nous sommes tous les deux du Pakistan.
Nés dans des familles chrétiennes, nous étions très impliqués dans le ministère des jeunes et la chorale de notre église.
Au Pakistan, c’était notre routine de participer à toutes les activités de l’église, car nous savons combien il est difficile pour nous de vivre sans Dieu.
Lorsque nous avons déménagé aux États-Unis en décembre 2019, nous étions inquiets pour notre vie chrétienne.
Lorsque vous déménagez dans un endroit où vous ne connaissez personne, c’est effrayant.
Mais nous avons beaucoup prié pour nous-mêmes et surtout pour notre fille Joy.
Au Pakistan, nous avions l’idée que les gens en Amérique sont loin de Dieu et que si vous allez à l’église, vous ne verrez que des personnes âgées, car la jeune génération ne vient pas à l’église.
Mais quand nous sommes venus ici et avons rencontré le pasteur Chris, nous avons senti que nous nous connaissions depuis de nombreuses années.
Il est notre père spirituel, toujours serviable, et nous aime comme le Christ nous aime.
Alors quand le pasteur Chris nous a parlé de l’OVF, nous étions très excités.
Nous avons pensé: «Wow!
Comme ce sera incroyable de prier dans notre propre langue dans un endroit où d’autres personnes nous écouteront également prier et chanter dans notre langue.
Nous sommes vraiment fiers et reconnaissants envers Dieu de faire partie de l’OVF.
Il n’y a pas de distinction selon l’endroit d’où vous venez.
Les gens écoutent notre témoignage sur la difficulté de la vie d’être chrétien au Pakistan.
Donc on a l’impression qu’on est tous pareils ici.
Comme le dit la Bible, nous devons nous aimer comme Dieu nous aime!
par Chris Sicks | À propos de One Voice, Non classé
Tout bon logo vous dira quelque chose sur l’organisation qu’il représente.
Voici trois idées derrière le logo One Voice:
1) Global - La forme nous rappelle la terre, et que le peuple de Dieu est appelé à partager la Bonne Nouvelle avec tous les groupes de personnes, où qu’ils se trouvent.
«Vous serez mes témoins à Jérusalem et dans toute la Judée et la Samarie, et jusqu’au bout de la terre.» (Actes 1: 8)
«Jésus vint et leur dit: «Tout pouvoir m’a été donné dans les cieux et sur la terre.
Allez donc et faites de tous les ethnies, des disciples, les baptisant au nom du Père et du Fils et du Saint-Esprit, leur apprenant à observer tout ce que je vous ai commandé.
Et voici, je suis avec vous toujours, jusqu’à la fin des temps.
(Matthieu 28:18-20)
2) Centré sur le Christ - Un prisme divise la lumière blanche en rouge, orange, jaune, vert, bleu et violet.
Tel un prisme, la langue et la culture divisent souvent le Corps du Christ.
Mais la croix est blanche dans notre logo parce que le Corps du Christ contient déjà des personnes de toutes les tribus et de toutes les langues.
Nous pouvons expérimenter davantage la plénitude du Corps du Christ lorsque nous participons à une communauté diversifiée.
«J’ai d’autres moutons qui ne sont pas de ce troupeau.
Je dois les amener aussi, et ils écouteront ma voix.
Il y aura donc un seul troupeau, un seul berger.
(Jean 10 :16)
3) Interculturel - De nombreuses églises s’efforcent d’être multiculturelles, comme elles le devraient. L’interculturel est un pas de plus et c’est notre objectif chez One Voice.
Vous voyez comment les couleurs changent lorsqu’elles interagissent les unes avec les autres?
Comme dans le mariage, notre objectif est d’être en communauté si étroite les uns avec les autres que nous sommes tous les deux changés par l’expérience, pour le mieux.
«Lorsque nous commençons à interagir avec quelqu'un dont la formation culturelle est différente de la nôtre, que ce soit au bout du monde, dans la vallée voisine ou dans notre propre rue, et lorsque nous essayons de bien nous comprendre, nous sommes impliqués dans» l'interaction interculturelle ». L’interculturel décrit ce qui se passe entre des cultures. L'apprentissage interculturel se produit lorsque nous apprenons les uns des autres à mesure que nos vies se croisent. » (Chrétiens et différence culturelle, Smith et Dykstra-Pruim, 15.)
Trop souvent, nos églises traitent les éléphants (les nouveaux venus qui ne sont pas de la culture majoritaire) comme ça.
Nous sommes très heureux qu’ils soient venus nous rendre visite.
Mais alors qu’ils essaient de se mettre à l’aise, de s’installer dans la communauté, ils apprennent qu’on s’attend à ce qu’ils changent.
Dans l’histoire, l’éléphant résiste à porter tout le fardeau du changement.
Il pense que la maison de la girafe devrait peut-être faire quelques changements.