The Lexington Christian Community was started by a small group of families and young adults who moved to Lexington, Kentucky, USA, in the summer of 2022. Our mission goal was to plant a Christian covenant community and launch a Christian University Outreach (UCO) nearby at the University of Kentucky.
We come from various Christian traditions but have a common way of life, seeking to encourage one another to live fully for Jesus Christ in our present age. We commit to daily prayer, supporting one another in small groups, and gathering to pray and worship together every other week on Sunday afternoons. We also celebrate the Lord’s Day on many Saturday evenings by praying, eating, sharing blessings from the week and spending time with one another, often with other community members and guests.
Why Lexington? In our initial scouting visit to Lexington, we met with various local pastors and campus ministers. As we shared our call of mission and community with them, we received a remarkably strong invitation from all of them to come to Lexington. That invitation was confirmed by us in prayer over the next couple of months and in June 2021 we committed to move to the city.
University Christian Outreach
Many of us are alumni of University Christian Outreach (UCO) chapters located in various cities around the US, and currently several of our community members serve on staff with UCO at the University of Kentucky.
The University of Kentucky (UK) is a large school, with over 30,000 students. The school draws from all over the state and region. There are also over 2,000 international students on the campus. All of this makes UK a fertile ground for gospel and Christian renewal.
News from the Plant
A few of the main updates for us have been in UCO at UK. Last Fall, we launched a men’s discipleship group with some core freshmen guys. In January this year, we were able to launch a women’s discipleship group as well. In addition, we have begun to introduce charismatic worship at our weekly bible studies. Our prayer is that by the end of the year we will have the beginnings of a local community of disciples on mission that comes in strong to help us share the gospel with the next set of UK freshmen arriving in August.
Meanwhile, our community life in Lexington continues to be rich. We took the first prayer meeting of the year to listen to the Lord and were built up by the various prophetic words that members brought. One common theme that we heard was continuing to place our trust in the Lord and take refuge in Him. He is with us! We are finishing a Lenten series of talks which will be up on our website here if you’re interested in listening.
Revival at Asbury University
In the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky, just 16 miles south of Lexington, a revival broke out at Asbury University. Starting on February 8 with their regularly scheduled chapel service, students stayed after the service to continue to pray. They prayed, and prayed, and prayed so much that the service has lasted over two weeks and has welcomed thousands of attendees from numerous states, even Hawaii!
Asbury’s President claimed this is surely a historic moment for Asbury, as they were witnessing “countless expressions and demonstrations of radical humility, compassion, confession, consecration, and surrender to God. Witnessing what Scripture describes as the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).”
Our community and UCO have had the privilege of participating in this radical event. In lieu of one of our prayer meetings, our community went over to Asbury to join in the revival.
Students from our UCO chapter at UK have also have gone to experience the Lord, one of whom even got prayed over for Baptism in the Holy Spirit! Praise the Lord for all He is doing through this revival!
Some prayer requests
- For our UCO students in Discipleship groups, that they would continue to grow in their faith and say “yes” to the Lord.
- For our community, that we would continue to grow closer in relationships with one another and closer to the Lord.
- For the families moving to Lexington this coming summer (2023) that the Lord would provide jobs and housing for them.
- For all the people who experienced the Lord at the Asbury Revival, that their lives would be transformed and they would continue to live in the light and love of Jesus
Text and photos © 2023 The Sword of the Spirit.
The Sword of the Spirit is a network of charismatic and ecumenical covenant communities and movements around the World.
Amen 🙏 brothers & sisters! May God continue raising this community life for His Glory!
This Is so refreshing…