In our last series, we talked about loving our neighbours, and stepped through six shifts. From stranger to neighbour to acquaintance to partner to friend to becoming “like family”.
It’s possible to become like family with a focused group of people, where you practice loving your neighbours within that small group, and see that spill over to others outside.
This series looks specifically at this stage of being “like family” with other followers of Jesus. It’s called the church, believe it or not. Important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.
You probably have all sorts of preconceived notions of what that word means. Attached you’ll find a video of some people on the street who were asked about what they think of when they hear “church”.
You can find the video here:
Question: When you hear the word “church” what do you immediately see, or think? Make a list, there may be several. What experiences have informed you?
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CloseRyan Sim - May 26, 2014
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Practices
I recently read Chris Hadfield’s book – An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. Most of us know Hadfield the astronaut – and assume that being an astronaut involves a lot of adrenaline, courage, all focused on the time from takeoff to landing. But in his book, he tries to broaden our view of astronauts, so we don’t just focus on those few days in space. HE talks about a number of the practices that he’s used in his lifetime…all in preparation for going to space, and debriefing afterwards. For example, he says he sweats the small stuff, always thinking about the details of how he’d react to an emergency before it happens. He touts the power of negative thinking – he would always spend hours going over his failures with others, to ensure they didn’t happen again. He studied like crazy - his kids made fun of him for having more homework, and taking it more seriously than they did! All this, in addition to the need for physical fitness and wellbeing with constant trips to the doctor, trying to avoid illness and injury. It wasn’t glamorous or easy, his life sounds like it’s been so single-mindedly focused on making it to space that it was very boring in many other ways, thanks in part to these practices. Those kids of practices are what prepared him for his mission going to the space station, so when things went wrong, he was prepared. This kind of thinking is valuable not just for space travel. Any big challenge needs preparation, and if the challenge is big enough, we need to learn new routines, rituals and practices well in advance, to change who we are in sustainable ways, focusing ourselves on being ready for the task ahead. That’s why we’re exploring the book of Acts right now to understand the first followers of Jesus as pioneers, and figure out how they organized themselves as a church community. That was a big mission, and they needed some practices as well, to help prepare them for the challenges ahead. Question: What kind of practices do you think would be essential to being a follower of Jesus?
Related Topics: Early Church, Pioneer, Practices, Routine | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio
From Series: "Pioneer Story"
We read through the Book of Acts as a Pioneer Story for the church.
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Day 13 - When should we pray? | Ryan Sim | September 26, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Day 12 - What can we pray about? | Ryan Sim | September 22, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Day 11 - How does God Answer Prayer? No and Maybe | Ryan Sim | September 21, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Day 10 - How does God Answer Prayer? Yes | Ryan Sim | September 20, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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Day 6 - How the Read the Bible - Part 1 | Ryan Sim | September 13, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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Day 4 - What is the Bible? Part 4 - A Library | Ryan Sim | September 9, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Day 3 - What is the Bible? Part 3 - Authentic | Ryan Sim | September 8, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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Money: Basic Budgeting - Security and Satisfaction | Ryan Sim | August 23, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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Money: Basic Budgeting - Financial Jargon | Ryan Sim | August 8, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Comparison Shopping | Ryan Sim | August 4, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Smart Shopping | Ryan Sim | August 3, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Your Money Saving Tips | Ryan Sim | August 2, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Budget Surprises | Ryan Sim | August 1, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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Money: Basic Budgeting - Spending Diary | Ryan Sim | July 27, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Increasing Income | Ryan Sim | July 26, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Reducing Spending | Ryan Sim | July 25, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Overspending | Ryan Sim | July 21, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Savings | Ryan Sim | July 20, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Priority Expenses | Ryan Sim | July 19, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Expenses | Ryan Sim | July 18, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Income Sources | Ryan Sim | July 14, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
Money: Basic Budgeting - Budget Basics | Ryan Sim | July 13, 2016 | Watch | Listen | |
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We Are...Transformed - Thursday | July 7, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Transformed – Wednesday | July 6, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Transformed - Tuesday | July 5, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Transformed - Monday | July 4, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Made New - Thursday | June 30, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Made New - Wednesday | June 29, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Made New - Tuesday | June 28, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Made New - Monday | June 27, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...One - Thursday | June 23, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...One - Wednesday | June 22, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...One - Tuesday | June 21, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...One - Monday | June 20, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Gifted - Thursday | June 16, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Gifted - Wednesday | June 15, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Gifted - Tuesday | June 14, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Gifted - Monday | June 13, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...At Peace - Thursday | June 9, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...At Peace - Wednesday | June 8, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...At Peace - Tuesday | June 7, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...At Peace - Monday | June 6, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Protected – Thursday | June 2, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Protected - Wednesday | June 1, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Protected - Tuesday | May 31, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Protected - Monday | May 30, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Spirit Led – Thursday | May 26, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Spirit Led – Wednesday | May 25, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Spirit Led - Tuesday | May 24, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Spirit Led - Monday | May 23, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
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We Are...Love – Wednesday | May 18, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Love - Tuesday | May 17, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Love - Monday | May 16, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Community - Wednesday | May 12, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
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We Are...Community - Monday | May 9, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Generous - Thursday | May 5, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Generous - Wednesday | May 4, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Generous - Tuesday | May 3, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
We Are...Generous - Monday | May 2, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
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We Are...Healers - Wednesday | April 27, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
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We Are...Healers - Monday | April 25, 2016 | Watch | Listen | ||
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