Connecting Points Magazine Fall 2018

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CONNECTING POINTS | FALL 2018CHURCHLife Groups and deeper community for you this fall.BY MIKE BIDELL, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, GROW18
CLACHURCH.COMDon’t you think Acts chapter 2 paints a compelling picture of church? In churches likeours, our attention usually goes first to the portrait of a gathering where the Spirit isexperienced in power, or to the story of the gospel making a profound impact as thousandsrespond. We read these stories and our hearts cry, “please God, here too.” Andthat should be our prayer! But how did the momentum in the first two stories in Acts 2turn into a movement that, within years, turned the world upside down (Acts 17.6)? Theanswer lies in the third story; in fact the Church of then and now would be incompletewithout Acts 2.42-47. The Spirit-empowered, gospel-moved, world-changing Churchthat burst into life in the first two stories is sustained, nurtured and multiplied in kitchensand living rooms. The Church was devoted to being together in each other’s homesregularly. They prayed. They were in the Word. They cared generously. They grew. Theyate together. On the weekends, they all gathered together for worship, but on theweekdays, they were scattered everywhere as communities on mission. And this—theActs 2:1-47, all three stories—is the kind of church we dream of for here and now as well!YOU WERE CREATED FOR DEEPER COMMUNITYIn Genesis, God says that it’s not good for people to be alone. Do you realize that Hesays this before the fall of mankind? We don’t need community just because we’rebroken, but because we were created for it with perfect intention.This year it is important for each of us to wake up to our need for community,and to the fact that community needs you. Acts 2.42 says the early church was devotedto fellowship. Fellowship wasn’t just socializing with friends or spending timewith your family. It was a devotion to growing together with people in the church.Many may have family that live nearby, but you also have a family outside of yourbiological one. That family needs you, and you need it.BUSYNESS IS THE MOST COMMON OBSTACLEUp until this point, many of us will agree with almost every idea shared in this article.But will you actually make a decision that produces change toward deepercommunity this fall? Among the myriad of reasons like fear of the unknown, a badpast experience, or indifference that could keep us from connecting in deeper community,our culture esteems one obstacle above all: busyness. We glorify it. Somefeel trapped by it. Some celebrate it. Whatever busyness is to us, it gets in the wayoff deeper community, and ultimately in the way of the transformation we could seein our lives and neighbourhoods. Sobering thought.What if this fall you rebelled against the god of busyness?What if you postponed something?What if you cancelled something?What if you sacrificed a few important things as worship to God in order to createtime and space for something even more important?The community you were created for and the church we dream of could be onthe other side of a few courageous decisions you make this fall.19
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Page 25 and 26: CLACHURCH.COMGROWBY MIKE BIDELL, AS
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