July 2008 Archives
River Park went down to Georgia
Our featured food was Marcona Almonds—guaranteed to keep your spleen lean. They are from the South of Spain . . . which is a sort of South.
If you didn’t make it, you missed some great food and lots of sweet tea. You also missed an update on what is happening at RPCC.
Some things we talked about:
The mission of River Park Community Church is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by creating irresistible environments that encourage intimacy with God, community with insiders and influence with outsiders.
In a past blog I talked about 5 catalysts of faith—five things that God uses to grow us spiritually. They are practical teaching, providential relationships, private disciplines, pivotal circumstances and personal ministry. We believe that the best thing a church can do is create environments where those five catalysts can be best leveraged. One of those environments is community groups. A community group is a small group of people--8-12 people committed to meeting together on a regular basis for fellowship and Bible study. It is where I believe that all five catalyst converge. It is where people do life on life.
Important Dates: Our goal is to launch two irresistible environments in the fall: Kidstuf on September 14th and our Worship Experience on October 5th. We will be alternating Kidstuf and the worship experience until January 4th.
Our next launch meeting is Sunday August 3rd at 6:30pm at the DeLillo’s.
Four Things: I often get asked about membership at RPCC. Membership is participation. Specifically, to be a part of RPCC we want people to be involved in four things. (One day we will have some great branding for this, cute logos and maybe a jingle—but right now it will be known as four things.) We want every person at RPCC to be involved in community groups and investing in outsiders and inviting them to our environments. We want people to be percentage givers and involved in personal ministry at RPCC. Those are the four things.
Hope to see you on Sunday August 3rd at 6:30pm. We are currently attending the 9am worship service at Camarillo Community Church.
48 Hours
We are looking forward to sharing all that we have learned last month at the internship and what we are going to learn this week at nRich. The last 7 weeks may have felt like a long pause—but it has been an incubation time for our core team.
A tidbit of what we have been learning:
We have said that the purpose of River Park Community Church is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. When we say “growing relationship” we are talking about spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is not a class or a checklist. It is not even primarily a set of doctrines, beliefs or practices, though many may have grown spiritually by utilizing those tools. We believe that spiritual growth is about three relationships: a relationship with God, a relationship with other believers and a relationship with people outside the church. We have defined spiritual growth as growing in greater intimacy with God, community with people inside the church and influence with people outside the church.
The Five Faith Catalysts
We believe there are five primary catalysts God uses to grow our faith. We refer to them as, you guessed it, the five faith catalysts. These five things are not listed anywhere in the Bible. We came up with the list by observing how God works in the lives of believers and even unbelievers. We are not arguing that these are the only five leverage points God uses. But we are saying that every time we hear someone recount his or her faith journey, at least one of these five dynamics is a part of the story. They are:
Practical teaching
Providential relationships
Private disciplines
Pivotal circumstances
Personal ministry
Practical teaching reveals where we are and where we need to go. Providential relationships allow us to hear from God through others. Private disciplines tune our hearts to God’s heart. Pivotal circumstances force us to look at God. Personal ministry enables us to experience God’s power. Each of these, in its own unique way, builds our faith in God. And at some point in your spiritual journey, each of these catalysts will intersect with your experiences.
I believe that these five faith catalyst point to why we believe River Park Community Church should do two things well: Sunday Worship Experiences and Community Groups.
Two things happen in our Sunday Worship Experiences: practical teaching and personal ministry. This is where you hear practical teaching on a weekly basis and it is where you can use your gifts and talents in ministry.
Three things happen in Community Groups: providential relationships, private disciplines and pivotal circumstances. Here is how it works. Community Groups are simply the environment where people can build close personal relationships. It is where people do life together. The relationships that are built in community group become providential relationships when we experience pivotal circumstances in our lives. During family tragedy, marital tension, the throws of parenting or a layoff our community groups are there. It is where we say that care, accountability and belonging happen best.
Private disciplines are private, but they often require the accountability of others around us to become habits. Community groups provide the close personal relationships with people who can hold us accountable to develop spiritual disciplines. It is also these same close personal relationships that help us apply the practical teaching we hear in the Sunday Morning Worship Experience.
It is really only the person who is doing life with you, that knows the circumstances of your life best, that can layer God’s truth into your life in a relevant and often life transforming way. I suppose that we can wait and hope that the winds of chance will place that one person in our life at the right time to speak the right words to us when we are experiencing one of those tough unexpected seasons of life, or we can be intentional and connect in a Community Group on a regular basis.
We believe that community groups are one of the most powerful ways we can leverage the five faith catalysts that God uses to change our lives. They are the five most common things God uses to help us continue in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That is why we have made community groups the destination at River Park Community Church. We see everything we do as a step toward that destination. If a program is not a step toward that destination, than we don’t do it. period.
The 30-Day No Freak-Out Challenge
I've done a three-part series up here called "Contents Under Pressure". It was really just some stuff I needed to get up and talk about. It worked out that other folks needed to hear me talk about it! It's been therapeutic for me and, I think, helpful for them.
I wrapped up yesterday's message with what I've called "The 30-Day No Freak-Out Challenge" -- not the most poetic title I've ever come up with, but it seemed to resonate with lots of folks. In fact, I'd like to extent this little challenge to all of you at River Park Community Church as well. Here's the deal:
Jesus, when he lived here on earth, was often very busy. He had a lot to do, and he had arguably the most important job ever. And, when he thought about what he would have to face in the crucifixion, he actually said, "That distresses me" (see Luke 12:49-50).
But -- this is where Jesus is unlike many of us -- he never allowed his stress to hinder his relationships or become an excuse for irresponsible behavior.
How was he able to do this?
We see a pattern emerge in Jesus' life -- a rhythm of work and rest, community and solitude, service and prayer. In fact, earlier in the same book, Luke tells us what I think may be Jesus' secret: "He often withdrew to lonely places to pray."
Can you guess what the key word is in that sentence? I think it is the word "often".
He didn't wait until he was about to explode to get away. He didn't wait for a lull in the action. He didn't wait "until things settle down" to withdraw. He did it early (according to Mark 1:35), and he did it often.
So, here's the challenge: What if everyone who is a part of the RPCC launch & support teams made this a habit for the next 30 days? What might happen in our relationships? What might happen in our homes and in our workplaces?
Here's what I suspect might happen: Things will continue to go wrong at times. We'll continue to have many of the same struggles as everyone else. Financially. Vocationally. Relationally. But -- here will be the biggest change -- we won't be freaked out by things. In fact, we'll experience an inexplicable sense of peace in spite of our circumstances. That is, after all, what we're promised (see Philippians 4:6-7).
And that might be just the kind of thing some of your unchurched friends and neighbors are looking for: a church full of people who experience hard times just like everyone else but refuse to freak out.
So, how about it? Are you up for the challenge? Carve out a block of time each day to spend alone with your heavenly Father and see if the promise is true.