Community Update from Dr. Bob – 03/20/24
As we approach Palm Sunday, we’re reminded that sometimes the Kingdom of God comes in unexpected—even shocking—ways. The people wanted a powerful king, yet Jesus entered Jerusalem to suffer. Jesus reminded his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
God’s kingdom takes root in ways that may surprise us; they may even feel counterintuitive at times. But Palm Sunday reminds us that God knows what he is doing. This seems like an appropriate time to articulate some of the kingdom principles that have been guiding us for most of the last year.
Experiencing God: To live as followers of Jesus, the essential starting point is getting connected to an experience of God. We need to pay attention and tune into what God is doing—in us and in the world around us. We need a living experience of God and there are a multitude of different ways we can engage in relationship with him.
Listening to the Holy Spirit and joining him where he is working: We are humbly committed to God’s agenda, not our own. As a result, we seek to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow his direction. We strive to meet God where he is already at work and join him there rather than asking him to bless our plans.
Aligning ourselves with the mission of Jesus: This means that we would cultivate a heart that reflects the heart of God, that our priorities would reflect his priorities: The Kingdom of God and the making of disciples.
Prioritizing an outward focus: To accomplish that mission we need to be outwardly focused on serving the community and making disciples. An outward focus—functioning the way we were designed to function—will contribute significantly to our own congregational health, growth, and discipleship.
Equipping the people for the work of the ministry: The goal is not for the clergy to do the ministry, but to equip the people to do the work of ministry. The responsibility of the clergy is to train people experientially according to their gifts in practical skills that accomplish the mission of Jesus (Eph 4:11-14).
Serving joyfully out of the overflow of our life together with God: We do not want our service to be out of obligation, but rather to flow naturally and joyfully out of our relationship with God and our desire to serve him and others.
Connecting in relational community: Our hope is that all of our attenders become part of a small group. These groups are our main vehicles for living life together on mission, for serving others, for growing as disciples, for experiencing the joy of God in community, and for encouraging one another on to love and good deeds (Heb 10:23-25).
Living as Jesus lived: As followers of Jesus, we are called to live as Jesus lived and to walk as he walked in all aspects of our lives and ministries. Our actions should emulate the actions of Jesus as we serve as his hands, feet, and voice to the world around us (1 John 2:6).
These are the core principles that have guided us in our journey. Our desired result is that God would use us as he will—not our will, but his will be done. Toward this end, we commit to loving obedience of the Great Commission and The Great Commandment. And we pray that, springing from that obedience, we would see fresh works of God that impact the community and result in disciples who make disciples who make disciples. In this way, we would serve as a city on a hill, shining the light of Jesus into the world around us.
Join us this week as we celebrate Palm Sunday and then Holy Week. Send a text or pass out an invite card to a friend this week. Our staff has been praying for the folks on the other side of those texts and invites this week.
Dr. Bob
P.S. Need another example of a text invite? Try this:
Hey [insert first name]! I was sitting in church last weekend and realized Easter is right around the corner. If you don’t have plans, I would love for you to come enjoy a service with me at Community! I’m excited to celebrate. Are you free Easter Sunday?
