As a church, we seek to be the church by gathering corporately on Sundays, and by gathering in LifeGroups in each other’s homes.  We do this to follow the biblical model of the early church seen in Acts 2:42-47. For a long time, we have correctly emphasized the need for Jesus-centered community through small groups, in some part to fight the ever-popular “Sunday-only” mentality about church in our culture. We have not spent as much time explaining the biblical reasons for our Sunday worship gatherings. Sunday gatherings are both important and incomplete.  So, here are 5 reasons Sunday gatherings are incomplete. To find out why Sunday gatherings are important, read part one.

1. More difficult to consistently show our love for one another.
   In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells His disciples to love each other the way that He has loved them.  Then He tells them that people will know that they are His disciples if they have love one for another.  If showing up on Sundays is our only church experience, we won’t have the opportunity to really love each other the way Jesus loved us. Additionally, outsiders won’t be as able to see His love at work in us.

2. Easy to just “sit and watch”
   If we only attend corporate gatherings, there is often no one to encourage and/or rebuke us if we aren’t applying God’s Word to our lives and repenting of sin. This form of accountability is much easier to do when God’s Word is being taught and discussed in a small group format.

3. Easy to hide
   If we’re honest, there’s a part of us that doesn’t want people to see the sin in our lives even though it is beneficial.  If we only attend corporate gatherings, it is very easy for us to show up, sing, and hear a sermon without every being transparent with others about what’s really going on in our lives.

4. Lack of relationships
   Often in corporate gatherings, it is extremely difficult to build relationships that are deeper than the surface.  In order for us to live out our identity as family, we should pursue deep meaningful relationships with our brothers and sisters.

5. Easy to hear the gospel, but harder to experience its effect.
   Only attending corporate gatherings keeps us from experiencing and displaying the gospel in the most tangible ways in our relationships.  For example, we can experience the gospel in a real way when our LifeGroup family keeps forgiving us because of Christ after we‘ve sinned against them multiple times.  This often puts the gospel in perspective in a way that hearing the gospel does not.

As a church, we seek to be the church by gathering corporately on Sundays, and by gathering in LifeGroups in each other’s homes.  We do this to follow the biblical model of the early church seen in Acts 2:42-47. For a long time, we have correctly emphasized the need for Jesus-centered community through small groups, in some part to fight the ever-popular “Sunday-only” mentality about church in our culture. We have not spent as much time explaining the biblical reasons for our Sunday worship gatherings. Sunday gatherings are both important and incomplete.  So, here are 5 reasons Sunday gatherings are important.

1. Jesus and early church leaders preached to large gatherings
   On multiple occasions throughout Scripture we see Jesus and Peter addressing thousands of people at once. Paul also often taught to large gatherings of people on a regular basis. Christians have been gathering in large groups to worship and teach Scripture ever since the church began. If Jesus, Peter, and Paul consistently gathered in large groups; it seems important enough that we should too.
2. Gospel proclamation
   God is a preaching God; using His word ever since creation to enact change in the world. Throughout Scripture God has chosen to speak through the mouths of men to His people. Sunday gatherings give us a great opportunity to continue to faithfully proclaim God’s word and the message of the gospel.
   
3. Unity
   As we try to be the church through LifeGroups on mission, Sunday gatherings give us the opportunity to unify under Christ as we pursue His mission. We gather together as the church to unify all of our LifeGroups under the gospel, committing together to continue to pursue God’s mission with Him.
   
4. Corporate Worship
   Sunday gatherings give us the opportunity to worship God together through giving, singing, and teaching. As Paul instructs both the Ephesian and Colossian church to address each other in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” gathering together each week allows us to address on another and God to address us through worship.
   
5. Mission
   Sunday gatherings continue the mission of God. We are able to proclaim the gospel and introduce people to Jesus-centered family each time we gather to worship and proclaim the name of Jesus. Gathering allows us to host our city well as we pursue Jesus-centered family on mission loving and serving the city with the gospel.

Tomorrow we’ll post part 2, “5 Reasons Why Sunday Gatherings Are Incomplete.”

21. Do you have a hard time admitting you’re wrong? Do you often find yourself covering up, excusing, or soft-selling your sin instead of admitting it?

22. Do you have a hard time receiving correction? Do you find yourself jabbing back, changing the subject, or joking to redirect attention after someone calls you out? Do you view correction as an invasion to your privacy and dismiss the person correcting you as being invasive?

23. Do you end up resenting people who correct you? Instead of responding with gratefulness whens someone helps you see sin in your life, do you often get bitter and withdraw from the relationship? Do you respond by dwelling on their faults, whether it’s internally or verbally toward them?

24. Are you constantly finding yourself in conflicts with others? Do you have a hard time getting along with most people? Do people regularly tell you they “struggle” with you?

25. Do you have little esteem or respect for others? Do you think lowly of people? Do you have a hard time complimenting or honoring others?

26. Are you self-willed and/or stubborn? Do you have a hard time cooperating with others? Do you love your own way and insist on getting it?

27. Are books and sermons consistently “too shallow for you?” Do you regularly dismiss teaching through various mediums because you consider yourself too mature to learn from them?

28. Is it hard for you to learn from people different from you? Discernment is a good thing, but do you refuse to learn from anyone that isn’t exactly like you, just because they’re different?

29. Are you quick to speak? Is your voice always your favorite voice in the room?

30. Do you constantly find yourself wanting to impress people? Do you use clothes, possessions, money, talents, and the like to point to yourself and draw compliments from others?

1. Are  you prayerless? If you are slow to pray, you’re believing the lie that you are self-sufficient. You aren’t moved to prayer because you believe you can handle whatever it is by taking matters into your own hands.
2. Do you hate asking for help? If you need help with something, but won’t admit it or ask for it because you “don’t want to be a burden.” Often pride masks itself with fake selflessness.
3. Are you easily offended? If you’re always offended, it screams of an “I deserve better” attitude. When people make fun of you, is your first instinct to jab back? When you are forgotten, neglected, or overlooked, do you sting back or respond with passive aggressive comebacks?
4. Do you fish for compliments? Again, sometimes pride wears a humility disguise. Do you go to people and say “I’m really not good at this,” just hoping they’ll disagree and pay you a compliment?
5. How much do you compare yourself to others? This can take all different forms: looks, possessions, abilities, talents, religious performance, morality, income, job performance, and most anything else. Most always, comparison is a way to puff up pride in yourself.
6. Do you use social media to draw attention to yourself? Fishing for laughs, retweets, ‘likes,’ pity, sympathy, argument, or love via Facebook and Twitter are easy ways to walk in pride and avoid walking in community.
7. Do you love expressing your opinion? Feeling like your required to give your opinion and answer for every question and every subject says “people can’t survive without knowing what I think on this.” My opinion is as valid, if not more valid than everyone else’s (Proverbs 18:2).
8. Are you unkind or harsh? Being insensitive towards others often indicates an understanding that they aren’t worth your time or effort.
9. Is it hard to admit you don’t know something? If you consistently make up answers on the spot rather than saying “I don’t know,” it usually indicates a “must hold it all together” attitude, or pride.
10. How often do you interrupt? Do you regularly interrupt people before they finish a thought so that you can express yours?

So to kick us off, here’s the first 10 ways to spot pride in your life:

1. Are you caught up in sin that nobody knows about? Do you avoid confession because of how you might be viewed?
2. Do you have a hard time rejoicing when God provides and blesses someone, because you feel like your needs are much greater and more desperate?
3. How much do you bring up yourself in conversation, or make yourself the center of the conversation? Do you always talk after somebody says something?  Do you always have a story to relate the conversation back to you?
4. Do you immediately defend yourself and attack people when they correct you?
5. At work, do you think more about how frustrating your job is and which aspects of it are beneath you? Do you have a hard time just being grateful for God providing a job for you?
6. Are you bitter?
7. Do you have low self-esteem? You’ve inflated yourself so much that God’s voice has no room to speak truth into your life. When he says, “you’re valuable because you’re made in my image, and defined by what I did for you in the cross,” you don’t hear or don’t believe it because you’re so consumed with what you don’t like about you.
8. Are you consistently angry? A short temper says “who do you think you are to talk to me like that or do that to me? Do you know who I am!? How dare you disrespect me?!”
9. Are you easily annoyed?
10. Are you sinfully competitive? Is your attitude and outlook on life significantly altered, even temporarily, when you don’t win?

The following steps are modified from an article we found elsewhere.

1. Let people you are friends with know that you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way).
2. Ask them about their beliefs and just listen. Show them that it’s a safe conversation topic.
3. Listen to their problems – practice compassion, serve them if possible, and maybe offer to pray for them.
4. Share your problems and struggles with them – explain how Jesus helps you in those.
5. Share your story with them – be sure to include the Gospel, because that IS your story.
6. Invite them to be around your Christian community – something like a lifegroup party or lunch is a good start.
7. Answer their objections and questions.
8. Invite them to a Sunday gathering and ask for their thoughts about it afterwards.
9. Give them a book to read – a book like Prodigal God is great for contrasting the gospel with religion.
10. Offer to read the Bible with them.

With most people, you will need to start with steps 1-4. If they are interested and want to talk more, you can move to steps 5-7. If they’re still interested go on to steps 8-10. Sometimes non-believers will want to go straight to 8,9, or 10, but often people start from way back and need some time to think and discuss things in a non-pressured way. We often make the critical mistake of thinking that only stages 5-10 count as mission and fail to faithfully practice steps 1-4 in our everyday life.

Some people are very gifted at 1-4 and do them almost without thinking, but for most of us steps 1-4 require some intentionality. Our natural bent is self-focus and we easily lose sight of the gospel mission that encompasses every moment of everyday.

The truth is, usually, to get people to steps 5-10 you have to put the work in at 1-4. Often, when someone comes to faith in Christ, there was a Christian who loved him or her enough to practice steps 1-4 with them at some point. Sometimes you’ll have to keep going through 1-4 for an extended period of time before a friend will express interest at anything more. That’s totally fine. Be patient and pray for God to grow their interest in Him. This will allow you to faithfully be on mission without being pushy or rude or obnoxious.

Jesus has promised that he will continue to do his job of saving people and bringing them into his family. Let’s be a church family that gets in on the action more and more.

In addition, our volunteer teams got a “practice” run-through to learn how to best host our family and city in a new building. We had some photographers on site taking pictures of the whole evening and wanted to share those with you, in addition to a video. You can see more photos on our Facebook page here.

As a reminder, this Sunday we will no longer meet at the Vista Campus and will be meeting at the new Devine Street Campus. We will still meet at 10 a.m., just like Vista.

With that being said, here’s some things to expect:

• A shorter service. Because the desire is for you to see the building and be church family together in it, we are going to try and keep the service to right at an hour long.
• Slightly more complex parking. Because of the limited amount of parking at the building, and the large number of people we expect in the building on a regular basis, much of the parking will be in street spaces and at other local businesses in the area. We strongly recommend arriving no later than 15 minutes prior to the service to find adequate parking. If you arrive at 6:58, you will miss much of the service. Aside from arriving early, be patient. Look for Midtown parking signs and parking volunteers in bright green shirts. There will be spots near the building for parents with children and anyone with a handicap permit. Otherwise, please only park in street spaces and designated Midtown parking. If you park somewhere else, you may be towed.
• Follow signage. We’ve tried to supply ample way-finding signage inside and outside of the building. If you’re trying to find something, look for the signage or ask a Host Team volunteer.
• Functional, but not finished. It’s important to realize that there are still things to be done. If you see something that isn’t finished, we are probably aware of it. If you see something that you think is a safety hazard because it isn’t finished, let us know. Otherwise, rest assured that any imperfections you see will be remedied by June 3.
• Delicious Things. Try to stick around after the Gathering, where we will have beverages and Little Debbie cakes available for everyone. Our goal is to have a party, not just a service.
• Be on mission. Remember that our desire is for the gospel to penetrate the nearby businesses and neighborhoods. So be aware of your surroundings. If you park near someone’s house, don’t block their driveway, and wave if they’re outside. Go eat at nearby restaurants (there’s several delicious ones) and tip well. Make the neighborhood excited and intrigued that there’s a church moving in, rather than frustrated that a church is moving in.

Lastly, we are excited! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow night.

Here’s the details:

• Preview Gathering: On Thursday evening, May 17, we will host an Open House/preview Gathering at the Devine Campus. The Gathering will function just as if it is a normal Sunday Gathering, including full music, preaching, parking team, Host Team, and Kidtown. The invitation is open to anyone, and doors will be open early for you to see the building, look around, and ask any questions you might have. We’ll open doors at 6:30p, and the Gathering will start at 7. You can find out more and get directions here.
• Launch Sunday: On Sunday, June 3, our Vista Campus will completely shift over to the Devine Campus. There will be no services held at Vista starting on that day.

So, you might be asking, how are the upfits going at Devine? Well, pretty great is the answer. We’ve posted some photos below. All audio/visual equipment is to be finished today, speakers have been installed, chairs have arrived, and signage will be installed next week.

In the meantime, we would greatly appreciate your continued prayers for the upfits, and for all the people who we hope will meet Jesus as a result of this new campus.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
(Eph. 4:11-13)

Ephesians 4 says that part of a pastor’s job is to prepare God’s people for works of service so the whole body of Christ may be built up. One of the many ways that we do this is Teacher Development. Teacher Development is a three month long intensive, interactive training process for people in our church family who have been identified as having some amount of insight, teaching ability, and desire to serve our family through teaching and preaching.

The current round of this process ends this Saturday when the Teacher Development participants will have the opportunity to deliver a 20 minute sermon and the crowd will get the chance to give them instantaneous feedback on how they did.

Now I know the question you are asking yourself, “HOW CAN I COME BE A PART OF THIS?!?!” And the answer is yes. We are extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to hear the sermons and offer feedback to help the developing teachers grow in their communication.

Date: Saturday, April 14.
Location: Earlewood
Time:
Round 1 @ 10 am (Jeremy Lethco, Tiffany Beaver and Ant Frederick)
Round 2 @ 1pm (Toni Lawrimore, Kent Bateman and Debbie McDowell)

Come out and give your support, encouragement and feedback! We hope to see you there.