-
Advent/Christmas Gathering Schedule
Our general gathering rhythm goes like this:
+ MC Gatherings (1st and 3rd Sundays)
+ Worship Celebration (2nd and 4th Sundays)
+ Small Groups (Midweek)Advent and Christmas looks like this:
SUN NOV 27 – ADVENT WORSHIP CELEBRATION
5pm @ 300 E Wayne StSAT DEC 3 – CHRISTMAS MOVIE NIGHT @ CHARIS HOUSE
6:30pm @ 431 Fairmount PlSUN DEC 4: MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
- Northside MC – BRUNCH & WORSHIP
10:30AM @ 1816 Alabama Ave
Bring food to share. We will have a short time of worship and reflection as we participate in Advent together. - Open Door MC – BRUNCH & WORSHIP
11AM @ 7116 Tanbark Ln
Bring food to share. Participatory worship and sharing on Advent themes.
FRI DEC 9 – PRAYER FURNACE
7pm @ 312 Taber Ave || More info
SUN DEC 11 – ADVENT WORSHIP CELEBRATION
5pm @ 300 300 E Wayne StSUN DEC 18 – ADVENT WORSHIP CELEBRATION
5pm @ 300 300 E Wayne StSUN DEC 24 – JOINT CHRISTMAS EVE CELEBRATION
with candles!
8pm at 3157 Minnich Rd (New Haven)SUN JAN 1 – MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
- Northside MC – FRUIT/SMOOTHIE BAR
3pm at 1715 Alabama Ave. - Open Door MC – POTLUCK DINNER + WORSHIP
5pm at 408 W Williams St.
Bring some food to share!
- Northside MC – BRUNCH & WORSHIP
-
Praying with Your Feet
As we explore what OUT could look like in our Missional Communities, I want to offer a few easy suggestions that will help us get moving in a fairly non-threatening way. One of the best ways to start to exercise OUT is to simply start prayer-walking with others. It’s basically exactly what it sounds like: walking around and praying while you do so!
So, yes, winter is on its way, but here are a few of the benefits of prayer-walking, from my friend J.R. Briggs:
Why should someone prayerwalk? Can’t we just pray right where we are?
Sure we can. We can pray anywhere at anytime for any reason. But there is something intentional and powerful about prayerwalking. There are many benefits.
- It helps you get into a rhythm of prayer. Prayer can be like music. When you hear music you like, you tape your feet and get into the rhythm. It’s true with prayer, too. The strides of your step help you to get into a rhythm with God.
- It’s one thing to sit in your office or living room and pray, but its quite another to be out in the community that you’re praying for. Prayer is heaven crashing together with earth. When you look into people’s eyes as you pass them on the sidewalk or you see areas of need in your town, there’s a deeper sense of connection to God’s purposes.
- You begin to see things you never would see if you weren’t out praying as you walk. (You see much more when prayerwalking, but don’t think its the same thing as prayerdriving or prayerbiking. There are places for both, but this is different.) You begin to have eyes that Jesus has and see what he sees. It’s great to see what you’re praying for.
- Your kingdom imagination is stirred. You ask questions of God when you see new things. God, what does the kingdom breaking forth look like in that neighborhood? What does the gospel look like in this context? How can the gospel restore that park? How can I join you – quite literally – in seeing your agenda lived out in that family/person/business/organization/park/neighborhood/house/etc? What is your dream for that school?
- It gives you things to pray for when you don’t know what to say. Whatever you look at, pass, hear, smell – pray for it. Neighbors. Neighborhoods. Parks. Schools. Businesses. Churches. The weather. People (whether you know them or not). Whatever comes to mind, pray for it. All the senses should trigger longings and yearnings for renewal and shalom to occur in your community by the power of God’s spirit.
- When you walk you will begin to feel overwhelmed with the amount of needs you see around you – and this is a good thing. Prayer is helplessness acknowledged. When we pray with a spirit of helplessness and desperation we are truly praying. I get overwhelmed by the physical, emotional, mental, cultural and spiritual needs I feel all around me…and the best thing I can do is to tell God. If he’s in control of His world then I place those feelings of being overwhelmed to him.
- Others can easily join you. Invite someone to come with you for 45 minutes or an hour (you’ll be surprised at how quickly the time passes). Do it with your smaller group or your family after dinner. Pray out loud and then when you’re done, stop praying and let those with you pray out loud. When there is silence, pray as you feel led. There’s a special bond when you pray with others for your neighborhood and community.
- It’s good exercise, especially as the weather is getting warmer, it allows for a great excuse to get outside.
- Most importantly, we pray so that the kingdom of God will break in and through in our communities. We pray so that the gospel will be realized and Jesus will become more famous in our communities and neighborhoods
A couple more resources about prayer-walking:
-
November Gathering Schedule
Now that we have launched as a network of two Missional Communities, our general gathering rhythm will go like this:
+ MC Gatherings (1st and 3rd Sundays)
+ Worship Celebration (2nd and 4th Sundays)
+ Small Groups (Midweek)November looks like this:
SUN NOV 6: MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
- Northside MC – WORSHIP & PRAYER
10:30AM @ 312 Taber Ave
Please arrive a little early so we can get started right at 10:30am. We will be done worshiping by 12pm. Kids are welcome. - Open Door MC – BRUNCH & WORSHIP
11AM @ 1415 Pemberton Dr
Bring food to share!
SAT NOV 12 – MOVIE NIGHT @ CHARIS HOUSE | 6PM @ 431 Fairmount Pl
SUN NOV 13 – WORSHIP CELEBRATION | 5PM @ 300 300 E Wayne St
SUN NOV 20 – MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
- Northside MC – PRE-THANKSGIVING HEALTHY POTLUCK!
2212 Alabama Ave. Prayer/worship at 3:30pm. Meal at 4pm.
Bring a healthy dish to share as we prepare our bodies for Thanksgiving over-eating.
Craft for the kids and maybe a bonfire after. - Open Door MC – BRUNCH & WORSHIP
11AM @ 408 W Williams St
Bring food to share!
THU NOV 24 – CC THANKSGIVING FEAST
Contact us to RSVPSUN NOV 27 – ADVENT WORSHIP CELEBRATION | 5PM @ 300 E Wayne St
- Northside MC – WORSHIP & PRAYER
-
October Gathering Schedule
Now that we have launched as a network of two Missional Communities, our general gathering rhythm will go like this:
+ MC Gatherings (1st and 3rd Sundays)
+ Worship Celebration (2nd and 4th Sundays)
+ Small Groups (Midweek)October looks like this:
- Sun Oct 2: MC VISION BRUNCHES
Each MC will be eating brunch together and sharing vision in more depth and detail. We’ll also be experiencing a little slice of MC life, too! Bring food to share.
Northside MC – 10am at 1816 Alabama Ave.
Open Door MC – 11am at 7116 Tanbark Ln - Sun Oct 9: WORSHIP CELEBRATION
5pm at 300 E Wayne St
- Sun Oct 16: MC GATHERINGS
Northside MC – Bike ride and harvest party
4pm at 3306 Oswego Ave | Bike ride at 4pm, then meet back at the house for a harvest party and football on TV. Bring food to share. The house will be open for those who want to come at 4pm but do not want to go on the bike ride.
Open Door MC – Brunch, worship, and Colts game
11am @ 3938 Fairfield Ave. Bring food to share! - Sun Oct 23: WORSHIP CELEBRATION
5pm at 300 E Wayne St
- Sun Oct 30: JOINT SERVICE @ GRACE GATHERING
Worship and baptisms with other churches in Fort Wayne.
11:15am at 3157 Minnich Rd (New Haven)
- Sun Oct 2: MC VISION BRUNCHES
-
Missional Communities: Vision and Details
Sunday Sept 25 we launched two Missional Communities. We talked for a bit about the details of how we’re gathering and the vision for each MC. Below you’ll find links to both the audio and a PDF of the handouts referred to (Not very well-designed yet!).
Missional Community Vision/Details Handouts (PDF)
Other helpful info to check out regarding Christ Church’s Missional Communities:
- BLOG POST: What might a typical MC gathering look like?
- AUDIO: Why We Do Church As A Network of Missional Communities
Ben’s sermon from Sept 11 on Matthew 16:13-19 and 28:16-20 – we discussed why we are structuring our church this way. - AUDIO: Tearing Down Strongholds
Paul Maconochie spoke to us on Sept 18 from 2 Cor 10:1-6 about what it looks like to join God in his work by “tearing down strongholds” in our minds that prevent us from entering into the things of God. - AUDIO: Embracing Your Missionary Identity
Ben’s sermon from our MC launch on Sept 25 from Isaiah 61 and Luke 4:14-21.
-
State of the Church Address
Or something like that! Basically it’s just that after a profoundly helpful weekend of input, coaching, prayer and planning, I wanted to communicate with all of you in a bit more detail about the exciting things we’re moving into at Christ Church.
The first thing I’d encourage you to do is make sure you listen to the sermon audio from the past two weekends at Christ Church. Both talks give some important foundations that will help you understand what we are up to.
Sept 11: I talked about why we are structuring ourselves as a network of MCs:
WHY WE DO CHURCH AS MISSIONAL COMMUNITIESSept 18: Paul Maconochie spoke to us about what it looks like to join God in his work by “tearing down strongholds” in our minds that prevent us from entering into the things of God. It was a powerful time of being called to a “normal Christian life,” laying down our lives for the last, the lost, and the least. We heard many wonderful examples of ordinary people taking hold of discipleship and mission, and how it is beginning to change a city. I was inspired to believe that we could see something similar happen in Fort Wayne:
TEARING DOWN STRONGHOLDSAs most of you know, we’re going to be launching as a network of two Missional Communities soon. MCs aren’t programs or events, but simply people covenanting together to live as extended families on mission together. I want to make sure you know how things will play out over the next few weeks so you can pray about how you’re called to be involved.
SUN SEPT 25: LAUNCH PARTY
Next Sunday at 5pm at our worship gathering, MC leaders will share the vision they have for the neighborhood or network they feel called to reach out to. Andrew and Lyndsay Stryffeler will lead the Northside MC, focused on the Northside area of Fort Wayne, and Deb and I will lead a MC called Open Door, focused on learning to “welcome the stranger” in our midst.SUN OCT 2: MC VISION BRUNCHES
Both MCs will host brunches to go into further detail as to what it is they are calling people into. Pick one to check out and bring some brunchy food to share!
- Northside MC : 10am at 1816 Alabama Ave
- Open Door MC : 11am at 7116 Tanbark LnSUN OCT 9: WORSHIP CELEBRATION
MCs will again share vision, and some info about what they’re planning to do the following weekend.SUN OCT 16: MC GATHERINGS
- Northside MC : Bike ride and harvest party (time/place TBA)
- Open Door MC : Brunch, worship, and Colts game (time/place TBA)SUN OCT 23: WORSHIP CELEBRATION / COMMISSIONING
During our worship celebration (5pm) we will pray for and commission the core teams of each MC.I would encourage you to do a couple things over these next few weeks:
1. PRAY: OBSERVE / REFLECT / DISCUSS – As Paul Maconochie said last Sunday, use the next few weeks to pray about what God is saying to you in this next season. How will you respond to His leading?
2. VISIT THE MC GATHERINGS – Pray about and imagine what it would be like to commit to living life-on-life with an extended family on mission together. There are costs to this, certainly. But when we are willing to pay the costs the life we get is incredibly rich and fruitful. Where is God calling you to invest?
-
What Will MCs Be Doing?
As we prepare to launch as a network of missional communities Sept 25, a question that often surfaces in peoples’ minds is the practical one: What will the MCs actually be doing?
This is a great question.
One of the misunderstandings of MCs is that they are groups that merely do “service projects” together. While MCs may occasionally engage in such activities, their purpose is not to be “do-gooder societies.” MCs, rather, are all about relationships: UP (with God), IN (with one another), and OUT (with those in the their mission context). So cultivating a sense of “extended family” will be an extremely important part of any MC, as will a sense of engaging with God together, and engaging meaningfully with people, drawing them toward Christ together.
Each MC will have a distinct flavor and rhythm, of course, based on its mission context, but one of the main things every MC will do is to encourage what Paul seemed to view as the foundation of church life: everyone participating to build up everyone else.
- “and since we all have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let each exercise them accordingly…” (Rom. 12:4-6)
- “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (I Cor. 12:7)
- “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… for the equipping of God’s people” (Eph. 4:7)
When Paul mentions the giving of spiritual gifts and their function he always identifies two facts: first, that each one of us has gifts, and second, that each one of us exercises those gifts for everyone else.
Paul’s logic, then, runs like this:
- Everybody gives
- Out of their holy spirit gifting
- For the building up of everyone else
Paul understood that the primary expression of church life needs to be a place where we are known and loved individually and are able to know and love others and everyone participates. This is one of the main reasons we are organizing ourselves as a network of MCs, and one of the main things every MC will do. Prepare to be known and loved!
-
Launching Missional Communities Sept 25
After over a year of learning, laying foundations, and building a discipling culture, we will be officially launching as a network of missional communities on September 25 with a party/commissioning service for our first two missional communities.
The several gatherings leading up to our launch will be important times of vision and preparation:
- Sunday Sept 11: Why We Do Church This Way
At our worship celebration (5pm at 300 E Wayne St), we’ll be talking about why we are organizing ourselves as a network of missional communities, and some of the heart and vision behind the move. - Sunday Sept 18: Paul Maconochie speaking
Paul will be sharing at our worship celebration (5pm at 300 E Wayne St). Paul is the Senior Pastor of Network Church Sheffield, a growing MC-based church in Sheffield, UK. He’ll be speaking into our community as a practitioner of MCs for many years. - Sunday Sept 25: Launch Party
We’ll come together to hear about the vision of each MC, as well as party together and send out the communities to incarnate the love of Christ in the neighborhoods and networks of Fort Wayne.
There will be more information coming soon about the two MCs we are planting, but after our launch, our pattern of gathering will generally be:
- 1st Sunday: MC gatherings
- 2nd Sunday: Worship Celebration (all MCs together)
- 3rd Sunday: MC gatherings
- 4th Sunday: Worship Celebration (all MCs together)
The purpose of MC gatherings is different from Worship Celebrations and small groups. Here is how we will structure ourselves and the functions of the various gatherings:
LARGE: WORSHIP CELEBRATIONS
{ MOMENTUM / INSPIRATION / STORY }A Worship Celebration is where all MCs come together to be inspired and inspire one another toward further missional engagement. Here we seek to steward the missional momentum of the church and inspire current and future MCs with fresh preaching from the Scriptures, stories from MCs around the city, and an atmosphere of celebration and joy.
MEDIUM: MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES
{ COMMUNITY / MISSION / TRAINING }Missional communities are mid-sized groups of 20-50 people who gather around a specific mission focus, joining God in the renewal of a neighborhood or relational network. They focus on engaging with God together, being a family together, and engaging in practical mission together. MCs also provide an ideal space for people to be trained in various aspects of ministry (leading worship, praying for the sick, exercising spiritual gifts).
SMALL: LIFE GROUPS
{ SUPPORT / CHALLENGE / FORMATION }Life groups are subsets of MCs, small communities of 6-10 people who gather to grow as apprentices of Jesus together. Leaders cultivate an atmosphere that is both supportive and challenging. These are the places we share on a deeper level what is happening in our lives. We discover how God is at work in our lives, and are challenged and held accountable to respond in ways that open us up to the transforming power of the Spirit.
- Sunday Sept 11: Why We Do Church This Way
-
Leadership Weekend Sep 16-17
Twice a year we do a training weekend for leaders along with two other churches in Fort Wayne called the Leadership Weekend.
The next one is Sep 16-17 and Paul Maconochie will be speaking. Paul is the Senior Pastor of Network Church Sheffield, a growing multi-site church in Sheffield, UK. He is also the leader of the Covenant Kingdom Network, a network of churches across the Midlands of the North of England. Over the last few years the Sheffield church has seen exciting growth as they have reached out to the Last, the Least and the Lost through Missional Communities.
Anyone is welcome to come and kids’ care is available. See the full schedule and register online.
-
September Gathering Schedule
Please make note of the changed schedule for September to prepare us for launching Missional Communities:
- Sun Sep 4: Community Meal @ 11am
Bring food to share | 7116 Tanbark Ln - Sun Sep 11: Worship Celebration @ 5pm
300 E Wayne StSep 16-17: LEADERSHIP WEEKEND
Practical leadership training for MC/Huddle leaders and teams. Paul Maconochie will be speaking. Anyone is welcome to come. Kids’ care is available. Register online.
- Sun Sep 18: Worship Celebration @ 5pm
Paul Maconochie with us | 300 E Wayne St - Sun Sep 25: Launch Sunday @ 5pm
300 E Wayne St
- Sun Sep 4: Community Meal @ 11am
