Archives For Community

“Must Christians Go To Church?”

March 2, 2013 — 1 Comment

Is Church necessary for Christians, or is it just an optional exercise?

  • A runner can run on the road. They don’t have to go to a gym.
  • A student can complete a college degree online. They don’t have to sit in a classroom.

So in this day and age, do we really need to go to church?

 

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts,according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:3-8)

  • Do you think it’s necessary for believers to go to church?
  • Do you think it’s necessary for your head to be attached to your neck?
  • Who misses out more when you aren’t part of the body? Answer = EVERYONE

When you’re distant from the body of Christ, you are missed. You are valued. You are formed for function.

This week, make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to live out the role God has carved out for you in His body, the church.

 

Need more encouragement?

  1. 3 Reasons to Go to Church this Weekend

  2. “Why I Go to Church – Part 1″

  3. “Why I Go to Church – Part 2″

  4. “Why I Go to Church – Part 3″

  5. “Why I Go to Church – Part 4″

 

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Why I Go to Church Part 4

March 18, 2012 — 2 Comments

Reason #1 – I need it.

Reason #2 – My family needs it.

Reason #3 – The Church needs me.

Reason #4 – We’re on a Mission

I’ve been part of New Life Ministries, in one way or another, for 30 years.

Today a friend brought in some old “church directories”.

  • I remembered what I looked like when I was 23 and came on staff for the first time. (Where’d that skinny guy go?)
  • A flood of memories resurfaced when I saw a picture of me getting baptized at 18.
  • I even got to laugh at my Dad’s mullet and the crazy mustaches represented in the 1982 directory.

The memories are great, and I hope my kids have them someday. Maybe in 20 years they’ll laugh their way through somebody’s online photo album from that thing we used to call “facebook”.

But there’s more to this whole church thing than just making memories. Bottom line, it’s about lives being changed by Jesus Christ.

Today I also got to sit in my office with a young man I have gotten to know over these past months. As he asked me questions about faith and baptism, he told me how God had orchestrated every experience over the course of his entire life in advance of the decision he was making at that moment. After experiencing both joy and pain in great amounts over a broad range of experiences, he was ready to place his faith wholly in Jesus. He did.

That’s what we’re all about, creating a community that welcomes people from all sorts of backgrounds. In that environment of love and acceptance, people get to experience what Christian community is all about well before they’re asked to make a decision for Jesus. We’re crazy enough to believe that, as they become part of the family, Jesus will become so attractive to them that they’ll cross that line of faith willingly.

It’s working. Over the past 15 years I’ve watch God grow our small community to over 1,000 friends who get to worship together over four different experiences a weekend.

  • Hopeless people have found new joy and promise in Jesus Christ.
  • Marriages have been saved, resurrected from the ruin of selfish living.
  • Children’s lives have been forever altered by God’s repair of their home.
  • Young men and women have been empowered to live a Christ-centered life, even against the grain of current culture.
  • I see it every day, lives being changed supernaturally. God is on the move, one heart at a time.
And He’s just getting started.

In the future we hope God will open the door to even more families as we open new locations, bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to new communities. Are you in on the mission? Are you part of bringing that hope to your community? If not, it’s a great time to step in.

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