Epilogue

Scripture for this closing word

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 KJV

Read 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 in the UECF.NET NKJV Bible ↗

At a glance

UECF.NET summary

The Epilogue steps back from the chronological narrative to survey what has grown out of the events the book has just told: a work that began with one pastor, one photograph, and one reluctant trip to a courtroom has become an organized, ongoing ministry reaching well beyond the original mansion on Clinton Avenue. Wilkerson uses the closing pages to point readers toward the scale of need that remains and the continuing, unfinished nature of the work.

Rather than closing the book as a tidy success story, the Epilogue frames everything the reader has just read as a beginning rather than a conclusion — an invitation, implicitly extended to the reader as much as to the original residents of the center, to take seriously the same call that first sent Wilkerson to New York.

Key points

• The Epilogue deliberately resists a neat, closed ending in favor of an open, ongoing one.
• The book's final move is to widen the lens from one center to the larger, continuing need.
• Readers are left with an implicit invitation to respond, not just a completed story to admire.

Related Scripture

• Matthew 28:19-20
• John 4:35
• Philippians 1:6

For reflection and discussion

1. Why might ending on an open, unfinished note be more faithful to this story than a tidy “and they all lived happily ever after”?
2. What is the difference between admiring a story of transformation and responding to the same call yourself?
3. What is one concrete way you could plant or water in a situation where only God can give the increase?