Vitality Update 11.15.19

Posted on November 15, 2019.
The ECC has laid out ten identifying characteristics of a Healthy, Missional Church. By "healthy” we mean pursuing Christ. By “missional” we mean pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world. These characteristics are called the "Ten Healthy Missional Markers". Over the course of these Vitality emails, we will look at these ten markers, and consider how they apply to our church life, if we see them in our church life, and how you can live into the calling of each marker.
 
Marker #2: Compelling Christian Community
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” – Acts 2:42-47
 
A church that has Compelling Christian Community as a healthy missional marker can say the following:
  • "We understand that our love for one another is a powerful testimony to the deity of Jesus. We love each other as we are, not as we should be. We share life together beyond the worship service."
A sign of a church that is full of Vitality, is a church where each person in the body feels heard and cared for. In our relationships with one another, (the way we speak, act, and care for one another) we reflect Christ Jesus.
 
Questions for Personal Reflection:
  • Is this Healthy Missional Marker (Compelling Christian Community) a strength for Messiah Church? If so, where do you see it in the life of the church today? If not, how have you seen that trust be broken, and what steps did you (our could you) take to restore that broken relationship?
  • How do you practice community with other brothers and sisters in the Lord, both at Messiah and outside these walls the other 6 days of the week?
  • Pray that God would continue to knit us together as brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that in our unity, we may reflect Christ and be a powerful testimony to his resurrection power.