Men’s and Women’s Bible Studies: Our men’s and women’s Bible studies meet every other Thursday evening at 6:3 p.m.  at 2510 Chaska Blvd.  Call 952-448-1755 or email us at office@riveralliance.com to find out more information about our next meeting.

The Waterway: The Waterway is our 20’s and 30’s group.  They meet for a variety of different events and small group opportunities.  Give us a call to find out what’s coming up next.  Call 952-448-1755 for more information.

Church Picnics: We have three picnics planned for this summer.  Join us on Sunday, June 8 and Sunday, July 14 at Lion’s Park and Sunday, August 18 at Fireman’s Park for a time of fellowship and food.

River City Days: We will have a booth at River City Days in downtown Chaska on Friday and Saturday, July 26 and 27.  We will be handing out balloon animals to families and making friends.  Come on out and join us.

OWNit365

This year we are embarking on a year-long trek through the New Testament combined with a devotional plan to follow throughout the week.  Follow along with the readings everyday and then join us on Sundays as Pastor Rob looks at one passage from the week.  You can also join us on twitter and facebook to talk about what we are reading each day.  You can find out more at ownit365.com by checking out the NT+ plan.  There is even an app you can use to follow along or use the ownit365 version of the Youversion Bible app on your smartphone or tablet.

John 15:5 talks about the importance of us remaining in Christ like branches remaining in the vine.  At The River we see our church family like a bunch of branches that are intertwined together on a vine.  As we allow our lives to connect with one another we are in a position to help each other remain in Christ.

If you are looking for a church home, or if you are hungry for that kind of community, we invite you to come and check us out.  We meet on Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. at 2510 Chaska Blvd.  You can get directions by clicking here.  This website is a great place to find out more about us, but if you have other questions, or need to talk with a pastor, please call Pastor Rob at 952-448-1755.

At The River our focus is to bring glory to God by knowing Christ and making Him known.  We have a heart for our community and want to be a blessing in Chaska as well as around the world.  Our main focus for ministry is to provide an environment for authentic community, intentional discipleship, Spirit-filled worship, Kingdom praying, and missional living happens.  To read more about our vision and purpose please click here.

We invite you to come and check us out.  We meet on Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. at 2510 Chaska Blvd.  You can get directions by clicking here.  Our building is a converted store front that was renovated by Iglezia Cristiana Ebenezer, an hispanic church that we share the building with.  Our service is at 9:30 and then Ebenezer meets at 11:30.

We do not have an office, so Pastor Rob can be found most afternoons hanging out at the local Dunn Bros. coffee shop on 2nd Street.  You are welcome to join him for a cup of coffee anytime.  To find out more about what we believe you can check out our vision and purpose statement, our Statement of Faith, or any of the other pages here at our site.  You can also visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to get many of your questions answered.

Everyone is welcome at The River.  We would love to have you join us sometime.  If you have more questions please feel free to call 952-448-1755 or email us at office@riveralliance.com.

This Sunday we are going to be reminded of the unstoppable power of God.  And unlike this movie, God literally cannot be stopped.  Right now we are in a series called “Acting Up” where we are looking at the Acts of the Apostles, and throughout this book we are reminded again and again that God cannot be stopped.  The church faced serious persecution in the book of Acts, but God was never stopped.  And two thousand years later, His Gospel continues to spread!

Come on out to The River this Sunday to hear about the unstoppable power of God as we take a look at Acts 5.

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the fact that Jesus died and rose again.  The above verse from John 20 shares that when Mary arrived at the tomb on Sunday morning, she found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.  Later on in that same chapter, we find accounts of two different occurrences when the disciples were gathered together in a locked room and Jesus all of a sudden showed up among them.

So considering that locked doors couldn’t stop Jesus, why did the stone blocking the front of the tomb have to be rolled away?  Did Jesus need the stone rolled away so that he could get out?  Obviously not.  When Lazarus was raised from the dead, they had to move the stone to let him come walking out, but this was different.  Lazarus rose from the dead, but eventually died again.  Jesus rose from the dead and then after appearing to more than 500 people over the course of about 40 days, He went to be with the Father again.  We can tell from the resurrection appearances, that Jesus’ resurrected body was different.  Locked doors couldn’t keep him out.  And He didn’t need to have the stone rolled away to get out of the tomb.

So if Jesus didn’t need to have the stone rolled away to rise again, why was it rolled away?  Good question right?  I believe that the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in.  The stone was rolled away so that Mary and then Peter and John could see the proof that Jesus body was gone.  The stone was rolled away so that we could see the evidence of the resurrection.

And this Sunday on Easter we will be looking at that evidence.  Consider joining us this Sunday at The River, 2510 Chaska Blvd.  We will start with a breakfast at 8:30, followed by our worship celebration at 9:30.  Everyone is welcome!

The key is that because we have chosen to love each other, even in the midst of our differences we come together in unity.  Of course, that doesn’t always happen the way it should, but overall it does.  And so instead of being a weakness, our differences actually have become a strength in our marriage.

Love and unity are connected.  It is only when we choose to love one another that we can really experience unity.  And that is what we will be talking about this week at The River.  We will be looking at Jesus’ prayer for His Church from John 17:20-26.  Come on out this Sunday and join us.

What a great concept.  We all need a paraclete.  We could all use an advocate, a helper, a friend who has our back.  In this world, facing the things we face, it would be nice to have someone like that along with us to help us face the journey and fight the battles we have to fight.

In the passage we will be looking at this Sunday, Jesus is getting ready to leave His disciples, but He promises to send them a helper, an advocate, a paraclete.  He promises to send them the Holy Spirit.  Check out the passage in John 14:15-31 and come on out to The River this Sunday to find out more about the paraclete that the Lord promised.

I have had way too many conversations with people who are disillusioned with the church.  They have previously been hurt in the church or have found church people to be judgmental, hypocritical, and unloving.  Others have expressed their concerns over the fractured picture they get of the church.  It seems to them like we can’t even get along with each other, and so if we can’t get our own act together how are we supposed to help anyone else?  Good question.

Now I know that just because we follow Christ does not mean that we are perfect, but this is an area where we need to do better.  Jesus reminds us in John 14 that the world will know we are His followers by the way that we love one another.  If that is the measuring stick, then the conversations I have been hearing are not a good sign.  We need to work on this.  And at The River this Sunday, this passage from John 14 will be our focus.  It is called “Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial,” but I think it is really more about loving one another.  Check it out at John 14:31-38 or come on out to The River this Sunday to find out more.