At CMC we have 4 values identify our church: Gather, Transform, Formation, and Beauty.
God can’t use you. Rather, we are invited to participate in God’s unfolding hope and dream for creation. We are in fact adopted as sons and daughters into the redemptive and restorative work of establishing the Kingdom of God right NOW.
That’s a stunning promise for the community. The fancy explanation of ‘how’ is that the church is a community gathered around the promise that we have been redeemed and in the process of being restored by the Holy Spirit through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Through his death, Paul says, we are adopted into the line of Abraham, and therefore the promise given to him and his descendants. That is, that Jesus has gone ahead and prepared every encounter we will have, he will bless the world through us, and in turn we will be blessed, and he will be with us always.
Think about this, every story we read in the bible is about unfit people who believed in this promise and God did incredible things through their belief. It is a promise that pervades into all contexts. He made us each uniquely a worshiper, and this gives us the chance to enter into a vast number of contexts to display where the Gospel is working in our lives and in the lives of others. We gather together, to share those stories and journeys with one another so that we may encourage one another as well as participate in them together, celebrate them together and give thanks to Jesus who makes it happen.
Gathering together is simply the life on life process (some call this discipleship) of community living out the character of Jesus in the neighborhood and beyond. Venturing as a church, and in smaller groups with important friendships you have, are crucial to continuously exploring what it means to live out a faith in our city and beyond.
How are you connected in a ‘life on life’ journey with someone (or someones) you know? Reach out for deeper in your faith journey, and do that with people you love, and invite others to share in the same love. You’d be surprised how many people are in search of in-depth and real relationships. it’s not easy by any means (people are hard to deal with ;)) but it’s vastly important for a resilient faith.
With notes from Josh.