One way that Every Neighborhood Partnership lives out our value of being a Jesus-centered organization is by having devotionals during our staff meetings and retreats.  These devotionals include Scripture readings or other types of character or leadership development topics.

Isaiah 65:17-25 is a Bible passage that has long been a driving motivation for ENP’s work.  We commissioned the “In Fresno as it is in Heaven” artwork based in part on this passage (you can read more about it here) and at our Fall 2022 staff retreat, we examined those verses together. 

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. – Isaiah 65:17-25 (NIV)

Through a process inspired by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Manuscript Study, we made observations, asked questions, and used our observations to attempt to answer those questions, leading our team to look at how this passage applies to the work we do with ENP.  

As a team, we discussed and agreed on the following applications:

• ENP advocates for justice so that the community will not labor in vain.  This includes teaching how to figuratively and literally build and plant for the good of our city.
• ENP sees and proclaims the vision laid out in Isaiah 65. We hope, trust, and have faith that it will come to pass and we call on the community to be glad, celebrate, and recognize this vision with us.
• ENP sees ourselves as a bridge builder between those with power and those without power so that all can live in harmony with each other.
• ENP commits to praying, recognizing that it is God who ultimately brings these things to pass.
• ENP supports and encourages the church to live into this vision in our city.

As we enter our work in 2023, we carry these applications with us, with the hope and expectation of seeing more of Jesus evident in our city.