Groups

We were made to worship God… and to do so TOGETHER.

The great privilege and goal of Christian fellowship is to be formed into a worshipping community, being transformed TOGETHER into the image of Jesus. This means we bear responsibility not only for our personal faith but for the holiness and joy of one another. How? By drawing our eyes, hearts, and souls to God’s glory in Christ TOGETHER. By celebrating the works of Jesus in our shared life TOGETHER. By bearing burdens and fighting sin TOGETHER. By championing one another to lives of gratitude, conviction, and holiness TOGETHER (2 Cor. 3:18, Col 3:1; Heb. 12:1-3). By bearing witness to Jesus’ work through service and mission TOGETHER. This is how disciples are made.

Yet community is difficult. So much wars against it—shame, anxiety, bitterness, fear, prejudice, and self-focus, etc. Our only hope for the self-forgetful unity we were made for and called to is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:13-14). Through the gospel, Jesus has reunited us with God AND with one another. Moreover, it is in this reconciled community of all places that God has chosen to dwell and make himself known. “In him [we] also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).

We are made to live in relationship with one another, in diverse communities, pointing each other to God, as we learn to savor our crucified Lord and risen Savior above anything else and to follow him with exclusive affection. In fact, God is forming this diverse community of the underserving not only that they might experience his glorious grace but that they might be quick to welcome others to experience it as well.