Be the Church this Summer

Dear Friends,

If you've been following along, you'll remember that we've discovered that the world sees the church differently today. We've explored the role of the church in blessing the world, and that Jesus brought to light the fact that we don't find growth and life by simply attending a church service or church activities.

We have found that growth and life happens when we intentionally bless the people in our daily lives.

So how can you start growing? While in the future we will certainly explore personal practices to grow in our faith, for now we have one simple way to begin blessing the people in your world. The short list of "spiritual" fruits in Galatians 5:22-23 are a great way to assess the kind of life we are sharing with the people around us:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

What if, with God's help, you embodied just one of these behaviors this week? We believe two things would happen: 1) you would increase someone else's quality of life and 2) you would grow spiritually.

In fact, what if all of us were to commit to this practice as we approach the people around us? Wouldn't our community start to look different?

We truly believe that if Christians were to love others the way Jesus did, our world would change! That's what it means for Christians to BE the Church as opposed to simply going to church somewhere. If you follow Jesus, then you are His Church.

So how can you be the Church in your world this summer?

We have created a valuable tool to help us all as we seek to grow in our faith and be the Church. Please download it HERE. We encourage you to print it and place it somewhere you will see it often.

We know it sounds cliché... but YOU really can make a difference. YOU were made to make a difference. YOU can BE the church in the world the way the church was meant to be!

Have a great week!

Todd & Meredith