We are beginning a new series on “Becoming Like Family” as our online community begin to share the daily challenges with friends, and we begin to gather our larger community together.

Why would we bother?  One survey found that 59% of 18-29 year old Americans with a Christian background dropped out of church.  Four-in-ten American young adults with a Christian background (43%) believe going to church and having Christian friends is optional.

Source

It’s clear that not everyone feels it’s essential, and with our use of technology to form a new church, you might think we mean to simply form an “online” church where no one ever meets in person.  But we believe it’s essential.  We believe church is essential, but to be clear, we are talking about a community of people.

  • We’re not saying going to a building is essential
  • We’re not saying attending a particular kind of worship service with particular kinds of music is essential

Those might be good things.  But they are things that churches do, not what makes them a church in the first place.

We want to ensure our church community will have five main characteristics.  The first was learning common things about discipleship, and we explored that last week.  The second, this week’s focus, is to be spending time in community together.

Some churches do this at bake sales, ham suppers, and such. For us, it will happen in groups that meet regularly to discuss how they’re growing as followers of Jesus.  We’ll grow and learn together.  Yes, we’ll be learning focused, but we’re also supposed to be a functioning community, a fellowship, in both small groups, and as a large group.

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  Well, it takes a church to raise a follower of Jesus.

Question: Why do you think people might avoid joining a church today?  Have you been part of a church before?  Why or why not?

Reminder: The Following Jesus course in Whitby starts tomorrow – visit https://www.redeemthecommute.com/events/following-jesus-course-whitby-2013-11-05/

Reminder: Last week we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - July 8, 2013

Monday - A New Idea - Foundations

Sermon on the Mount

In 2009, an entire 13 storey building toppled over in China, killing a construction worker, and leaving homeless hundreds of new tenants who thought they were about to move in to a brand new building. What’s striking about the images is that the building looks modern. It’s not visibly dilapidated. The contractors did all the visible parts right, but cheated on the invisible foundation underneath it all. It was eventually visible to everyone, as the beautiful building on top crashed to the ground destroying lives. You can find the story and pictures here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html The foundation is critical. One architectural web site I visited reminded me that a good foundation carries the load of the building above, including its people furnishings, furniture and more. IF it’s plumb and level, all the other building materials can be, as well. And that makes the tradespeople happy. They summed it up: the foundation is the most important work and the basis of everything that comes after. This is true in life, as well as architecture. Question: What is the most important thing in life? Did you choose this? Why?

Related Topics: Foundations, Life | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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