Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sunday Morning Kick-Off
As we have been preaching through the vision of Bend City Church this summer and fall we have been looking forward to the time when we would have a full worship team, children's church, and nursery on Sunday mornings. Slowly we've been adding the different elements to our Sunday gatherings, one step at a time. At the same time, we've taken 3 able men through some leadership training as our next small group leaders.
As we've grown as a church body in these areas, we've tabbed Sunday, October 24th as a kick-off Sunday for Sunday services. The reason we are having a kick-off service is to give a special emphasis on inviting those we hope to one day be a part of our local church. The truth is, Bend City Church is already a church, a small local church at this point and we want to see people know Jesus and come to be a part of our fellowship.
The past few weeks we have started the children's ministry meeting on Sunday. For the time being, the topic has been the life of David and what God can teach us through the man that the word says was "after God's heart."
The next few weeks will see a few changes in the church:
1. Scott and Lisa Christophersen will be starting a small group on Monday nights in their home.
2. We will begin practicing with a full worship team and have that team lead the worship on Sunday mornings.
God has been doing a great thing in the church and we've been excited to see the fruit of His work in our lives. That's all for now.-Shane
As we've grown as a church body in these areas, we've tabbed Sunday, October 24th as a kick-off Sunday for Sunday services. The reason we are having a kick-off service is to give a special emphasis on inviting those we hope to one day be a part of our local church. The truth is, Bend City Church is already a church, a small local church at this point and we want to see people know Jesus and come to be a part of our fellowship.
The past few weeks we have started the children's ministry meeting on Sunday. For the time being, the topic has been the life of David and what God can teach us through the man that the word says was "after God's heart."
The next few weeks will see a few changes in the church:
1. Scott and Lisa Christophersen will be starting a small group on Monday nights in their home.
2. We will begin practicing with a full worship team and have that team lead the worship on Sunday mornings.
God has been doing a great thing in the church and we've been excited to see the fruit of His work in our lives. That's all for now.-Shane
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Message Sunday 9/19/2010
Hey guys,
It was very hard to hear the prayers for the leaders so we faded out after the teaching.
It was very hard to hear the prayers for the leaders so we faded out after the teaching.
Monday, September 6, 2010
New Look
You may have noticed the new look. We changed to a different template - one which gave us more flexibility so that we could fit the podcast feature to the right.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Our New Place
Check out some pics of our new meeting place. We will begin meeting here the first Sunday in September.
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| The Church |
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Preparing leaders to do the same
The last few months Scott and I have been blogging through the mission of Bend City Church and the 5 main areas we feel God has called us to focus on as we attempt to fulfill the mission. The final area that we are looking at is Preparing Leaders to Do the Same. The first question rightfully asked about this point is, to do the same what? Obviously this point cannot stand on its own, since it is built on the previous 4 points. So it would probably be helpful to review.
The mission of Bend City Church is we exist to make disciples that live for the glory of God, enjoying him completely. The first four vision points we see as crucial to fulfill the mission are:
1) Praying with utter dependence on Christ
2) Proclaiming the gospel to believers and unbelievers
3) Pursuing live of worship and service in community
4) Partnering in ministry for the sake of the gospel
This leads us to our fifth and final point, Preparing Leaders to Do the Same. We aim to prepare leaders to have a growing passion for first four points listed above. A fruitful church will have a vision that is continuously growing in the hearts and minds of the community of believers. As the mission is being accomplished through the community and the sense of mission is growing stronger, individual members of the body are prepared to lead others into this mission. Jesus chose 12 disciples to pour His life into. These 12 disciples became the 12 apostles and were sent on mission to change the world. From this beginning, we see preparing leaders as an important part of the early church life. The apostle we hear from the most in the New Testament is Paul. We see Paul not only give himself to the preaching of the gospel and the ministry but also to developing and encouraging his “children” in the faith. These “children” are men who he feels a direct responsibility to encourage to shepherd the flock of God. We see his heart clearly in 2 Timothy 2:2;
Paul wants not only his hearers to know the truth of the gospel, but he tells them that they need to find faithful men who will teach others also. We also see his earnestness in preparing, teaching, encouraging, and warning a few of these leaders, Timothy and Titus, in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. Just as Paul did, we aim to prepare faithful followers of Jesus to join us on mission. For us, that means joining us to pray with utter dependence on Christ, proclaim the gospel, pursue a life of worship, and partner with others in this ministry for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
The mission of Bend City Church is we exist to make disciples that live for the glory of God, enjoying him completely. The first four vision points we see as crucial to fulfill the mission are:
1) Praying with utter dependence on Christ
2) Proclaiming the gospel to believers and unbelievers
3) Pursuing live of worship and service in community
4) Partnering in ministry for the sake of the gospel
This leads us to our fifth and final point, Preparing Leaders to Do the Same. We aim to prepare leaders to have a growing passion for first four points listed above. A fruitful church will have a vision that is continuously growing in the hearts and minds of the community of believers. As the mission is being accomplished through the community and the sense of mission is growing stronger, individual members of the body are prepared to lead others into this mission. Jesus chose 12 disciples to pour His life into. These 12 disciples became the 12 apostles and were sent on mission to change the world. From this beginning, we see preparing leaders as an important part of the early church life. The apostle we hear from the most in the New Testament is Paul. We see Paul not only give himself to the preaching of the gospel and the ministry but also to developing and encouraging his “children” in the faith. These “children” are men who he feels a direct responsibility to encourage to shepherd the flock of God. We see his heart clearly in 2 Timothy 2:2;
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
Paul wants not only his hearers to know the truth of the gospel, but he tells them that they need to find faithful men who will teach others also. We also see his earnestness in preparing, teaching, encouraging, and warning a few of these leaders, Timothy and Titus, in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. Just as Paul did, we aim to prepare faithful followers of Jesus to join us on mission. For us, that means joining us to pray with utter dependence on Christ, proclaim the gospel, pursue a life of worship, and partner with others in this ministry for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Partnering in ministry for the sake of the gospel
It's been a while since we last blogged about anything, and a lot has been happening with us at Bend City Church during the interim. For one, we started meeting on Sunday mornings. It's been great. We felt that it was time to begin meeting on Sundays for two reasons. 1) To cast vision through teaching Scripture and 2) To provide fellowship for all the members of our now multiplied small groups.
If you've been following along with our blog for the last month you know that Shane and I have been blogging about the five p's of Bend City Church which are:
There is only one body of Christ. No matter where a person lives, what color they are, what race they claim, or what language they speak - if that person is a believer in Jesus then they belong to the same body of believers that every other true believer in Jesus belongs to. It is not enough to say that we are a part of the same body of believers as everyone else that we meet with on Sunday morning. This is true, but we also need to realize that we are a part of the same body as our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the gospel right now in China, Iraq, Indonesia, and countless other countries.
Every member of the body of Christ is joined together by God's spirit so that we are part of one another. For this reason it is necessary that the different parts of the body have an attitude of "part"nership. Christians, as individuals, are just a part of the body. An eye is a wonderful part of the body, but would be completely useless sitting in some laboratory jar. It only achieves it's intended purpose in partnership with the rest of the body. But in what ways must the body of Christ partner?
Again, the body of Christ must partner together to see our great mission from Christ accomplished. The accomplishment of this mission was a goal of the apostle's preaching. In Acts 3:19-20 Peter exhorts the people to repent so that God "may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you". We could live to see this mission accomplished. The gospel could be preached to every people group in our lifetime, but it will only happen as the body of Christ partners together for this great mission.
Local churches must keep their eyes on this. We have no need to compete with each other, but we have a great need to partner with each other.
If you've been following along with our blog for the last month you know that Shane and I have been blogging about the five p's of Bend City Church which are:
- Praying with utter dependence on Christ
- Proclaiming the gospel to believers and non-believers
- Pursuing lives of worship and service in community
- Partnering in ministry for the gospel
- Preparing others to do the same
1Corinthians 12:12-14 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
There is only one body of Christ. No matter where a person lives, what color they are, what race they claim, or what language they speak - if that person is a believer in Jesus then they belong to the same body of believers that every other true believer in Jesus belongs to. It is not enough to say that we are a part of the same body of believers as everyone else that we meet with on Sunday morning. This is true, but we also need to realize that we are a part of the same body as our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the gospel right now in China, Iraq, Indonesia, and countless other countries.
Every member of the body of Christ is joined together by God's spirit so that we are part of one another. For this reason it is necessary that the different parts of the body have an attitude of "part"nership. Christians, as individuals, are just a part of the body. An eye is a wonderful part of the body, but would be completely useless sitting in some laboratory jar. It only achieves it's intended purpose in partnership with the rest of the body. But in what ways must the body of Christ partner?
- To Care For The Body
- The Mission of Christ
Again, the body of Christ must partner together to see our great mission from Christ accomplished. The accomplishment of this mission was a goal of the apostle's preaching. In Acts 3:19-20 Peter exhorts the people to repent so that God "may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you". We could live to see this mission accomplished. The gospel could be preached to every people group in our lifetime, but it will only happen as the body of Christ partners together for this great mission.
Local churches must keep their eyes on this. We have no need to compete with each other, but we have a great need to partner with each other.
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