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 - February 3, 2014

Monday - A New Idea - Reset: Money

We’re recently started a new series called “reset”. In the first week, we talked about how Jesus makes it possible to reset all of life, giving us a fresh start in life that impacts every key area. We’re going to look at many of these in depth, and this week we see how Jesus resets our use of money. Have you ever dramatically changed your priorities around money? Some examples would be at the birth of a child – people usually budget for fewer restaurant meals, and more diapers. Suddenly RESPs and life insurance all become more important. On news of a serious Illness, if one’s future earnings are suddenly in doubt, spending priorities change. Or in a recession, when jobs are being lost, and investments are losing money. On a nicer note, getting a new job can mean a new budget with less debt, and some important expenses finally covered. There are many more examples, not always tragic, but following that usual pattern. New priorities in life get reflected in how we spend our financial resources. Sometimes we realize it should have been this way all along, and have our eyes opened. We look back now at some financial choices in our past, and realize we were being short-sighted, lazy, cheap or any number of other missteps. Sometimes we should have known better at the time, other times we couldn’t have known better, just lack of experience and wisdom. Following Jesus is meant to be that kind of moment where you completely reassess, reset life, including finances. Quote: Our chequebooks and appointment books say as much about our faith as our prayerbooks. Question: What kind of life event would make you completely reassess your finances?

From Series: "Reset"

When our computers get bogged down and unmanageable, we know to hit a reset button to simply start over. Wouldn't a reset button be great in life? We know it would be complicated, with all our responsibilities and routines to consider, but imagine the freedom and refreshment of a new start in life! What would you do differently? What would you pay more attention to, and what would you ignore? How would you avoid getting bogged down and broken again? The great news is, in coming to earth as Jesus Christ, God has begun to "reset" our universe, our world, and even us. We're invited to start over with him, in what he calls his kingdom. We're invited to start a new life with a clean slate. What gets wiped clean, and lived differently, when God resets our lives? We'll explore how God resets these key areas of our lives: Reset: Goals Reset: Time Reset: Money Reset: Work Reset: Body & Food Reset: Sex & Marriage Reset: Family Reset: Compassion Reset: Nature Reset: Society Reset: Death Join us for the next several weeks, and invite God to reset your life.

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