Finding a Church

My biggest challenge for the last 6-8 months is finding a church.
Mostly because three years before that we were planting a church
and two years before that I wasn't going at all,
and the transistion has been less than smooth.

While the overwhelming excitement of a new adventure has been reinvigorating,
the process of finding a place 
to connect with
community
service and
worship
is becoming stressful

It's like you have to start over from scratch
While trying to keep the community and mission that you started over three years ago

What should we look for in a church?
What are the signs of a healthy growing church?
How do you go from leadership to a visitor?
If I get everything that a church service can offer from outside sources...do I need to go to church?

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Reflect God

I was listening to Judah Smith this morning.
He was at Passion 2013 this year talking about community

My thoughts that came from his sermon are reflected in my
blog posts community Part one and Part two

While I was re-listening to his sermon
a major point stood out to me

Our main purpose is to reflect God.

When He created adam
there was one thing that God
said that was wrong with this picture

...he was alone

Everything else that God had made
reflected God's glory
except that Adam was alone

We were made in God's image and because of that
it was not good that we were alone.
God isn't alone
He's got the trinity
God knew that if people were going to truly
reflect who He is 
then theres no way that they could do it alone
...because God in Himself is not alone
God in Himself is community

So if we are called...to what could arguably be our greatest purpose
theres no way that we can do it alone

Theres no way that this world can see who Jesus is if we're alone
Because Jesus isn't alone

This is why I love the church
Because without it we cannot show the world who Jesus is

and while there are some weird strange, bizarre, mean, overly critical people our there
We need them and they need us

not to fulfill some emotional need
but because we cannot do what God has called us to do

because of this the excuses of 

"I can worship Jesus more in my boat than with a church"

or

 "I don't need the church to worship/love Jesus"

Don't have a leg to stand on

You do need people and the church
Don't believe the lie
Don't be deceived into the doctrine of isolation
because...in all reality...it seems easier but
...to put it how God put it...
It is not good for man to be alone

proverbs says

the man who isolates himself seeks his own desires and rages against all wise judgement!

Don't let the dirtiness and the brokeness of people
lead you away from the pack

And I'll tell you what...
I give you permission to give up on people and their brokenness
if God gives up on you and yours.

Don't give up so quickly on what God has called us to do
because this will help you complete the greatest purpose
of your life.

It's simple I seriously need you
and you need me

What are some reservations that you have about maybe being in a community
or investing in the people around you?
(Please answer in the comment section)

-Sam

Divine Babysitters

In late november me and by friend Sean Bean,

along with some other great teams of people,

started on this journey of apartment ministry.

Up until now my plan to show people Jesus

was through relationships.

While my plan is a relational strategy, I am more concentrated

on a certain location.

Making friends....I'm good at

being organized

having to communicate

planning things....

....not so much

But that's all a part of being a team.

God has shown us a few cool things while we've been here.

I think the coolest thing that God has been doing is sending people to us.

Here's a cool story:

This past sunday afternoon me and Sean

spent our day like any other 22 year old college students

watching TV

hanging out at the apartment

and

babysitting....

yea babysitting

is definitely not what I thought what my strength was. lol

but God provided.

My friend Greg is a minister at a church that is local.

He is also apart of our ministry team.

He called me that afternoon to tell me that

there was a pregnant woman with her two kids who

went to his church

lived in my apartment complex

and couldn't get into their apartment because her husband was sleeping.

So we had them come over to our apartment complex

Greg bought pizza

so we took care of the kids

while their mom tried to find a way to get into their apartment

God gave us 4 hours with those kids and that mom.

That gave us a chance to do what we do best.

We got to talk to them about Jesus

and play an impromptu concert for the kids...

they loved that!

eventually they got back into their apartment

and we told them goodbye.

But it looks like we have a promising career as 

babysitters lol

Then at the last minute some loving women from the mom's sunday school group brought over some toys

and other baby supplies for them.

somebody is going to walk in our apartment

and think that one of us has a kid. haha.

God has a way of using our weakest attributes for His glory.

Mine is kids.

I'm 6'3.

kids are scared to be around me.

I'm not sure if God is calling me to divine babysitting...

but I do know that:

God is working

We're joining Him!

Community Part 2: You Need Me

 

-1 Peter 2:1-10

 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—  if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe

,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling,
    and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The God we serve is not one of isolation.

He is one of intimacy and interaction, 
perfect community and unity.

God does not need us...He is independent from us.
We, on the other hand, are dependent people.
We need God and we need each other.

It's one of the reasons that Jesus said

 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself"

God knew that we would need both...God and others
In our own little world it should not be population...me
our world needs to be populated with others and over populated with Jesus and 
His love.

In peter it says that we are stones....living stones
There is nothing special about a rock!
...if it is alone.

But like it says in 1 peter, we proclaim the greatness of God when we are together.
When we are together we are like a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Others see Jesus when we're together.

This is why I need you and YOU need ME.

We are living stones...rejected by men...chosen by God
to be built up together! 
not separate 
this is the community we have been called to.

Community: I Need You (part 1)

  

 

 

I Need You...

So...I want to be honest, this might be because I'm an extrovert, but I get DEPRESSED when I'm not around people for a long time. I don't know why...but I'm very glad that God has given me this very present need for community.
For some reason I have this need for people to be in my life on a constant basis.

I think that God does this for a reason. The need for community is from God he put this in us.

why???

• We are created in His Image
• God has perfect community and unity within the trinity
• because of this we have an urge to be in community and unified with other people

Even with this urge to be around people I can forget that I need people. We have to be around peoole...we cannot live the life that God has called us to live without it. It's impossible.

Jesus said that

 they will know that you are my disciples because of your love

So if we don't have community. If we feel like it's too much of a hassle to have to deal with people or that I don't have time to invest love into people a few things can happen

1. The life that you are called to live in Jesus will be more weight than you can handle

2. You won't see Jesus for who He really is

3. Others won't get an accurate view of who Jesus is

We must realize that community is not a comfort it is an urgent need in our lives. God has made us to where we cannot function properly without it. Even with this internal pressure to be around people I forget that I need you.

Sometimes I don't want to Admit that I need people. 

Sometimes the people I don't like are the people I need the most.

I believe that our independence is a very important quality. I think that we do need to be able to stand up on our own two feet. If you are an Independent person than community looks like this for you:

A group of Independent people who willfully choose to include and depend on other people in their lives.

We can do a number of things by ourselves, but when we choose to include other people, when we decide that I need other people and that they need to be needed than we open ourselves up to a world and a life that Jesus knew would be the most fulfilling for us. 

I would say that I'm pretty independent in some aspects and dependent in others. Like...I hate receiving money to help out with bills or if I'm running low. I feel like I should be the one who other people should depend on not the other way around. But I force myself to take the help...why?

• It reminds me that I need other people in my life
• It lets that person feel needed
• It lets people into my life 

That last one makes me feel a little bit of anxiety. Because what we don't realize is that if we're always the one giving to others...If we're always the one having other people depend on us....And we're never the ones receiving or being dependent on other people...Then we're able to distance ourselves from people. We don't have to show vulnerability to anyone else and we can maintain this image of how strong we are because of how many people we're helping.

In reality...

It's fear.

We're afraid that if we accept help from others they might think
we're weak

or that we can't take care of ourselves.

It's pride.

And it's keeping us from living the life that God wants for us.


What I'm saying is that I need you 
But my pride is telling me that I don't.
So I must combat it.

I need you because:
I'm broken
I'm selfish
I need help...in almost every way possible lol
I can't function and live life the way that it's supposed to be lived without you
...reference to David Guetta's song "without you" lol

 

I just thought I would throw that in there for kicks.

and it's a fun song...

What are some ways that we can remind ourselves on a regular basis that we need people?

What are some ways that we can remind ourselves that we are needed by other people?

Give me some thoughts...

-Sam

Community: acceptance (what does unconditional acceptance look like?)

I've been thinking a lot lately about community.
It just astounds me that a thing like community
can change lives so dramatically.
I wanted to start a blogging series on community,
not because I have it figured out or am any type of
authority on the issue, but mainly because I have a lot
Of thoughts on the issue.

One thought I've been having about community is the necessity of it.
Especially about the necessity of it in college
students (because I am one). My friend Paul told me something that stuck with
me this week. He said "what people really need is not another worship service. What people
need and possibly long for is community".

I've been thinking about this lately because me my friend brent and people from
theCity church are starting a community group at suffolk manor apartments.
There are a lot of people at Suffolk manor but there's no community. We threw a party
There last week and the most suprising thing was
That there were people there who are neighbors and it seemed like they never knew each other.
So my goal is to take these people and try to cultivate community among them.

So my first post about this is on acceptance. I love this aspect of
community because it is so pivotal to creating community.

First things first what do I mean when I say acceptance?
Well the way that I see acceptance is by meeting people where
they are. Loving people purely because God loves them.
Letting people be themselves without trying to change them.
One of the most freeing parts of being free in Christ is
The fact the Christ meets us where we are in our brokenness.
And because Christ has done that for me I am able to
Show grace and acceptance to others. And in it's essence
Acceptance is grace.

One thing acceptance is not is tolerance.
I like what John Burke says about tolerance. He says that
Tolerance is only a lesser substitute for grace.
tolerance is acting like you don't like a person
because of who they are or what they do but u "deal" with them.
Acceptance or grace is different because it comes from Christ.
Acceptance is looking past ourselves and seeing what
Christ sees in everybody.

Now my big question is what does unconditional acceptance
look like?
The way that I've experienced it lately is that no matter how
Annoying, mean, insulting, corny, uptight, broken, and messed up
I am, I know I will be accepted by Christ and by the people
in my community group. Because in all reality non of us
have it all together and we all want grace and acceptance.

The reason why acceptance is so important in a community
is because if there isn't acceptance then all the other aspects
Of community aren't possible. And I think that God knew
that if we were constantly searching for acceptance with him and with others
then the growth in Him would be impossible. So acceptance is
The foundation that we build community on. The bible says
that christ did not come only for us but for the whole world.