Mission: Bringing Gospel Restoration into our everyday lives as we live devoted to Jesus.

Everyday Disciple-Maker: is someone who is intentionally investing in others to see them make disciples. 

The Point: Discipleship happens in community.

"Programs don't disciple people. People disciple people."

"Biblical community is a group of disciples of Jesus that are committed to one another in order to foster love for Jesus and to accomplish the mission of Jesus."

Two Types of Community:

1. Formal Community
2. Organic Community

1) Jesus loves the church

"25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" -Ephesians 5:25-27

• Jesus loves the church because He died for us.
• "17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,[d] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." -Ephesians 2:17-22
• "Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Jesus loves us because He sanctifies us.

2) The Church is essential for spiritual growth

"15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." -Ephesians 4:15-16

"We were not wired by creation or re-creation to live on our own. Independent, self-focused living never goes anywhere good. We must all come to understand and accept the truth that our walks with God are community projects. We were not designed to live the Christian life on our own. The reason God calls us to this high quality of relationships is because relationships are an irreplaceable tool in his redemptive hands." -Paul Tripp

"But while an individual relationship with Jesus is an important part of the Christian life, it is not the sum total of the Christian life. Our relationship with God is never less than an intimate relationship with Christ, but it is always more than that. Christians throughout history—Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox alike—have confessed that it is impossible to have a relationship with Christ outside of a vital relationship with the church, Christ’s body and bride...When we confess in the Nicene Creed that we believe in “one holy, catholic, apostolic church,” we are confessing that we cannot know Christ on our own, or merely with a small cadre of our friends. Instead, we rely on the global, historic church that Christ initiated and built. When we worship Jesus, we rely on millions of Christians over thousands of years whom God has used to bear witness to Himself. The only reason we know anything at all about Jesus is because His disciples told their friends, neighbors, and enemies about Him, the apostles preached and wrote down his teaching and stories about him, and believers have carried his message everywhere they’ve gone in each generation." -Tish Warren

Reason why community is essential:

1. Community helps us overcome sin and temptation.
2. "3 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." -Hebrews 3:13
3. Community helps us bear our burdens.
4. "2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." -Galatians 6:2
5. Community helps to encourage us.
6. "25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." -Hebrews 10:25

1) Be Committed

"Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"What we think we want from a church is almost never what we need. However challenging it may be to embrace, God’s idea of church is far more glorious than any dream church we could conjure. It’s not about finding a church that perfectly fits my theological, architectural, or political preferences. It’s about becoming like “living stones” that are “being built up as a spiritual house” focused on and held together by Jesus, the stone the builders rejected who became the cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4–7)...Commitment even amidst discomfort, faithfulness even amidst disappointment: this is what being the people of God has always been about. Imagine if Yahweh had bailed on Israel the minute they said or did something offensive, opting instead to “shop around” for a new people (Canaanites? Philistines? Egyptians?). Imagine if God were as fickle and restless as we are. But he isn’t. God’s covenant faithfulness to his people, even when the relationship is difficult and embarrassing, should be instructive to us. A healthy relationship with the local church is like a healthy marriage: it only works when grounded in selfless commitment and a nonconsumerist covenant." -Brett McCracken

"Fellowship cost something in the early church, in contrast to our use of the word fellowship today. Fellowship is not just a sentimental feeling of oneness. It is not punch and cookies. It does not take place simply because we are in a church. Fellowship comes through giving. True fellowship costs! So many people never know the joys of Christian fellowship because they have never learned to give themselves away. They visit a church or small group with an eye only for their own needs (hardly aware of others) and go away saying, ‘there is not fellowship here.’ The truth is, we will have fellowship only when we make it a practice to reach out to others and give something of ourselves." -Kent Hughes

2) Pursue Love

"8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." -1 Peter 4:8

"29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." -Ephesians 4:29-32

"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." -John 13:34-35