Community Archives

Living Community Part Five

(18) Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it. (19) When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. This is fundamental to all that Jesus taught. Love each other, don’t simply talk […]

Living Community Part Four

So HOW do we go about loving one another? The idea of ‘what is love’ is tainted by the influences of our culture. Some may say that sex is love or that love is found in the giving of extravagant gifts. John makes it real clear in his letter: “We know what love is because […]

Living Community Part Three

Now the bar is raised even further. In the words of Jesus, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the […]

Living Community Part Two

Not only is love foundational from the beginning of time but Jesus Christ further brings it into perspective when He walked the earth. He was confronted by one of the religious teachers and asked to identify the greatest commandment. His reply, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. […]

Living Community Part One

The next few posts will be about what it means and requires to be a true and living “community.” To move beyond oneself and truly engage the world around us. To realize that there is more to life than simply waking up, going to work, coming home, and doing it all over again the next […]

Outside the Box-5

Freedom to Enjoy Having fun is almost a bad word in some circles. Oh sure, it’s fine to take your annual vacation or play that game of golf on the weekends (as long as it doesn’t interfere with a church function or something equally important). And we hear lots of advice about taking time to […]

Community 3

There is a common phrase I head from pastors, “as we grow larger, we must grow smaller.” This is typically around the implementation of home-based groups as a means to facilitate relationships, personal ministry, and try to develop a sense of community within the corporate whole. While I agree this is a great means by which to accomplish […]

Community 2

Is the church of today intended to reflect culture or should culture reflect the church? Or possibly both? Maybe neither? The entertainment industry justifies their corrupt products (movies, music, etc) by claiming to only be a reflection of the society around them. Thus they are somehow relating to their audience. (Talk about a cop out.)

Community 1

Is it just me or has the American church, in general, lost its sense of “community”? By “community” I refer to the activities seen in the early church, in particular Acts 2:42-47. There we see people coming together daily in the temple, sharing a meal together, being in each other’s homes, sharing of their assets, […]

Image: Manifestation of Imagination by Erwin McManus

The hard work of materializing our dreams Write a manifesto declaring the kind of world you will create. Make a list of things in your imagination that would make the world better if they became a reality. Identify everything you could do now to make your life a closer reflection of the one you long […]

Live Loved

The journey of learning to live in the love of the Father progresses at the confluence of two streams: our unfolding circumstances and the ongoing revelation of God’s wonder. In response to a powerful email of transformation, Brad and Wayne discuss how our conversations with God at those points is what moves the journey forward […]

soul care

The CounterPoint group has spent several weeks discussing one’s heart desires, dream, and purpose. Which should naturally lead one into exploring the voices shapes your life for good and bad. This begins a short series of posts which provide a pathway towards discovering the voices and learning to identify the Voice of the Father. Soul: […]

Replacing the Church with Self by John Ortberg

Martin Seligman, a brilliant psychologist with no religious ax to grind, has a theory that it’s because we have replaced church, faith, and community with a tiny little unit that cannot bear the weight of meaning. That’s the self. We’re all about the self. We revolve our lives around ourselves. Ironically, the more obsessed we […]

True Service to the Community

True Service to the Community Have you ever served the church but you heart was not really in it? Have you sensed a “loyalty oath” in the pressure exerted upon you to serve in some capacity of the church? Have you ever coined your service as a “duty”? I know I have, on all counts. […]