Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,...Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To loose the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the heavy burdens,

To let the oppressed go free,

And that you break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him,...

Then your light shall break forth like the morning.

                Isaiah 58

Planning for Sabbath House

For the moment, all Sabbath House has is vision, passion, and locals dedicated to making this ministry a reality.

   We've taken our initial legal and financial steps, and we're connecting with legal help and ministries already dedicated to mercy work.

    At present, we're seeking financial donations to help us acquire living quarters and creating work opportunities. We'd also love to remunerate key staff.

    We would be most grateful for your generous financial support for this most basic expression of the gospel: "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me."

Nobility and Naming

Scripture spends a seemingly inordinate amount of time on the relationship between the rich and poor. But this “overemphasis” makes sense when we see how it reflects the main work of Father, Son, and Spirit in history.

      God Himself is the richest nobleman, overflowing in abundance, going through history renaming slaves, raising them from serfs to royalty. We are no longer servants; we are high nobility at the right hand of the King of kings.

      Sabbath House aims to imitate this central theme of history, concretely, by gathering international Christian brothers and sisters who have suffered persecution and violence and exile in the modern world.

      Sabbath House’s vision is to feed, shelter, nurture, and rename them or rather embrace their baptism as kings and queens, in the midst of a committed, wealthier, and established church community. Missionary work in other countries has its place, but, many times, it also has the drawback of striving against hostile traditions, hopelessness, and deep superstitions. Embracing refugees in a thriving community can be life from the dead for both.

      In the long term, Sabbath House would aim to provide trauma counseling for victims of torture, legal help for citizenship, language training, job training, youth education, arts performances, and more, as the Lord enables.

      Sabbath House might have multiple residences, some in town for trauma housing and some on a farm for those interested in developing longer-term agricultural projects.

      Apart from serving internationals in need, Sabbath House could also become a key means for the church to train local members in daily, hands-on, bodily Christian service. On the last day, this sort of renaming might be the only thing that truly counts: “And the King will answer...‘inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

G.K. Chesterton Observation

"There is nothing to be reached upon the present lines except the increasing loss of property by everybody, as something swallowed up into a system equally impersonal and inhuman, whether we call it Communism or Capitalism. If we cannot go back, it hardly seems worthwhile to go forward. There is nothing in front but a flat wilderness of standardization either by Bolshevism or Big Business."

12/20/07 - Trinity Reformed Church elders authorize Brendan O'Donnell to serve as their liaison to Sabbath House

12/20/07 - Christ Church elders authorize Sabbath House as an official new ministry, with Rusty Olps as an official overseer

11/19/07 - State of Idaho recognizes first filing for Sabbath House

10/4/07 - Christ Church elders grant permission to pursue information and initial setup for Sabbath House

Jonathan Edwards