Instead of hosting an All-Church Gathering Sunday, May 23, we want you to do something many of you have never done before: have your neighbors over for dinner!
"Love your neighbors" is part of the greatest commandment Jesus ever gave. And if we're honest, most believers reject, ignore, or at best, forget about it - at very least, we don't do a very good job of it. So a few times over the course of 2010, we're carving intentional Sunday nights into regular City Life, for you to grab a few other "City folk" - in your Village or otherwise - and simply have your neighbors over for dinner.
Invite them, cook for them, serve them good food and drink, play boardgames, watch the LOST finale, and love them. And if it's not Sunday, that's OK - do it Saturday, or some day next week; we're just carving out intentional time to show you how much we, as a church family, value this biblical mandate. For some of you, this will be the first time you've ever talked to them. That's OK. We're not asking you to share the gospel, to ask them if they died that night if they'd go to hell, or anything like that...there's no agenda.
We're just asking you to live with gospel intentionality: start buildling relationships with your neighbors. Get to know them. Have them in your home. Dine with them. And love them well.
Here's why we're doing this:
From our launch date in January 2010, All-Church Gatherings have been every other Sunday evening, for two reasons:
First, we wanted to protect Villages in their infant days; to make sure that they become more than "Bible studies." We want our Villages to become true communities on mission in our city, where our church family lives out our gospel identities together. Second, we wanted to make sure our church family sees Villages as the center of "City Life," rather than centering on the Sunday gathered event.
To be candid, we don't think our body as a whole is fully grasping that dual vision for Villages yet. So to increase All-Church Gatherings would be counter-productive, and increase our chances of becoming a Sunday-event-focused church body even more.
At the same time, we realize the need to build unity, community, and vision across Village boundaries and throughout our entire church family. So as we wrap up our first spring season and enter the hot months in Texas, we've developed a schedule that will increase all-church time together, while at the same time help emphasize our gospel identities as we live them out as a family: starting April 18, we're doing something every Sunday night, but not the same thing every Sunday night!
What else is coming up?
Here's the Sunday schedule for the next six weeks:
Read the full article here, to get details on our unique every-Sunday experiences: http://is.gd/bE6Ze
The City Church Blog
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