Living Waters

Information about current Living Waters and Cross Current classes is available on our Congregational Care page.

No matter who we are or what our story is, we all have something we struggle with or a burden we carry. Perhaps it’s a broken relationship with a parent or child, a need to be in control, bursts of anger, sexual impurity, addiction to pornography or addiction to perfection.  When it comes right down to it, there are or have been things in every Christian’s life that has a tendency to block intimacy with Jesus or cause us to walk around with our head down, shame draped around our shoulders.

Sometimes, pride causes us to ignore that “thing” and resolve that it is just “our cross to carry” so why bother? Another hindrance to dealing with our struggles is the myth that “everyone else seems to have it together, so there must be something wrong with me.”

Living Waters is a ministry at Church of Apostles committed to removing those blocks to intimacy with Christ and working through the wounds, hurts, sin and baggage we carry. It meets for 28 weeks of intense study and is made up of people of all different backgrounds. The foundation of Living Water is based on the belief we are meant to live in the resurrection power of Christ and experience His healing power in the context of community no matter who we are or what we struggle with.

Director and leader Beth Geary believes every Christian should go through the program and agrees with one participant who said, “If you are living, breathing, walking and talking Living Waters is for you.”

“Living Waters is the fellowship of our brokenness, honesty and confession that brings healing and wholeness that absolutely cannot be accomplished on Sunday mornings or alone,” says Geary.

So who is Living Waters for? Geary and many past participants agree that a myth of Living Waters is that it is for homosexuals and people with “really bad” pasts. As one participant said, “Living Waters encompasses far more.”

“I see it as a program that deals with the human condition, namely sin,” said one participant.  “If there is an issue like anger, gambling, poor relationship with your mother or father growing up, control, sexual promiscuity that affects your relationship with god, your intimacy with Jesus or your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, then Living Waters is for you.”

When they start digging into the truths LW unpacks they discover unresolved hurts and wounds that cause their present day struggles.

Geary describes the people who have completed LW are a wide range of people and personalities with all different areas of sin and different stories of hurt that are ready to walk in freedom. Geary explains many people who come know they are stuck, but don’t know why. When they start digging into the truths LW unpacks they discover unresolved hurts and wounds that cause their present day struggles.

“We also see people you would consider a “mature” Christian who may only struggle with one area of sin all the way to someone who had a childhood full of abuse and carries all sorts of judgments and fears and wants to know the love of God in community” says Geary.

The community LW offers is what Geary calls, “real community.”

“We believe that it’s in community, not by yourself,” Geary says, “where real transformation takes place.” She describes it as a confessional, confidential community who’s passion lies in helping bring cleansing to the soul despite any shame, sin or secret. “The point is to get into community and out of isolation and let people love you and pray with you through your struggles.”

A typical night at LW is filled with worship and teaching followed by a testimony from a past participant. “These are what people can’t believe,” says Geary.  “Their stories are real, authentic and transparent and helps break the shame of some of those who listen…it is incredibly inspiring to hear others tell the story of how they were transformed by Christ.”

Perhaps the most powerful part of their time is spending time at the cross. “It’s at the cross where people discover the resurrection power of Christ and it’s transforming power,” says Geary.  One participant said of this time, “I believe so much in the power of Jesus’ blood that I was able to bring many things to Him there and really leave them at the cross.”

The time ends with men and women separating into small groups.  “This is where the rubber meets the road,” says Geary.  It’s there, among others, that people discover they’re not alone and can find permission to speak freely and openly as well as be prayed for.

“These groups are places where people find common ground,” says Geary. “They may be in different places in life or struggle in different areas, but here they discover their pain is the same and so is their sanctification process.”

To those that have participated in the program, LW has been a place of true freedom.  Freedom from hurts, from sin and from shame. It’s about admitting brokenness, digging deep to understand why we’re broken and finally accepting the only way to wholeness is through the healing power of Christ. Perhaps one participant sums it up best when he said, “I came to Living Water in pieces and left in peace.”

More information about LivingWaters and CrossCurrent is available here.