Demonstrating the Love of God in New Ways
An Interview with Pastor George Spangler of Turning Point Church by Lance Finley, CGGC Executive Director
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ince the very beginning, Turning Point Church (https://www.lesspew.com) has demonstrated a commitment to sharing the love of Christ with their friends and neighbors in the area around Mechanicsburg, PA. I sat down with their lead pastor, George Spangler, to learn more about how the church has lived out Christ’s call to love their neighbors. George was quick to point out the theological roots of the congregation’s commitment to loving people well. Early in the life of the congregation, they drew a deep understanding of the nature of God’s love from the Apostle Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:14-39: God’s love for people, demonstrated through Jesus, was intentional— verse 23 states, “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” God’s love through Christ was uninitiated—in other words, humankind did nothing to provoke or initiate God’s love, but rather God was the initiator. It was the Father who acted, who initiated in order to demonstrate His love for humankind. Lastly, God’s love was unconditional— God sent Jesus to live and die for sinful humanity. There weren’t conditions on this love, but rather it was offered freely, without conditions. George shares, “We understood that we’re to love others like God has loved us. If God’s love for us is 10 March/April 2022
Pastor George Spangler intentional, uninitiated and unconditional, it just makes sense that if we’re to love like God, then we need to love others in ways that are intentional, uninitiated by them, and unconditional as well. We want to love others in a manner that reflects the nature of God’s love.” As a result of this theological foundation about God’s love for humanity, Turning Point Church spent a lot of time in the early days asking, “What could we do to express God’s love to the people of our community?” Pastor George also shared that the book Guerilla Lovers: Changing the World With Revolutionary Compassion by Vince Antonucci helped to provide some of the initial ideas or inspirations for practical
