Two Insights into Christian Unity

Gary DeLashmutt

Philippians 1:27-2:2

Paul urges his followers to devote themselves to community based on their shared basis of Christ. Paul identifies three key elements of Christian unity: 1) a common source of truth; 2) common outward focus; 3) common understanding of love.

Community

Ryan Lowery

1 Corinthians 12:12-20

God's design for us to grow with Him is within the context of interdependent relationships within a community of Christians that are committed to loving and serving one another for the good of others. As such, we cannot have intimacy with others while being autonomous. Community thrives when members are looking to use the gifts God has given them to contribute to the needs of others.

Sermon on the Plain (Part 2)

Conrad Hilario

Luke 6:37-49

Jesus continues teaching the sermon on the plains. He warns his audience to be careful whom they follow, indirectly addressing the problems of the leaders of his day. The religious leaders were wrongly emphasizing religious observance over Jesus' words and a life of sacrificial love. A contrast is drawn between discernment, which seeks to help others, and unrighteous judgment, which seeks to condemn others in a spirit of pride.\r\n

The Problem of Wineskins

Dennis McCallum

Matthew 12:7

An analysis of Jesus' parable of the wineskins, detailing that old wineskin are old human institutions and approaches to facilitate God's work, while the new wine is what God is doing at the time. Jesus argues that new wineskins are needed to keep up with God's new plan that He is establishing through Jesus. Modern institutional church wineskins are shown to also be a barrier to God's work (anti-cussing, special music, clergy dress, etc.), and are repelling people whom Jesus is trying to reach even though most people are interested in spiritual things.

A Collision with Religionists

Conrad Hilario

Luke 5:33-6:11

Jesus uses the parable of wine and wineskins to teach a lesson. Jesus calls people to be willing to throw away old wineskins (forms or ways of structuring the church) in order to best reveal God's love to others. Holding onto old wineskins results in a ?religious mentality?: placing too much importance on tradition and sin prevention. In contrast, Jesus focuses on God's truth and loving others.

Xenos Home Group Model

Patrice McCormac

John 17:21-23

The foundation of Xenos was the home group model, where the church first began. Still today, Xenos is a large church based upon a collection of home groups. This workshop explores the structure of home groups as well as some key features of these groups, including evangelism, discipleship, and community. Finally, this workshop provides an overview of leadership and home group planting.

Serving Christ through Life's Stages and Shifting Priorities

Mary Barnum

Colossians 1:3-12

The key to serving Christ through life's stages it to develop a "gospel-rooted, mission-driven, community-based" lifestyle. This focus will effect how we interact with the core areas of our lives and our faith: evangelism, marriage & family, discipleship, school/work, and Biblical teaching. In this breakout we see how all of these areas are interdependent.

Global Partnerships - Changing the Face of Eternity

Dave Glover

Lou Kassa

Colossians 1:3-12

The gospel today is continuing to expand across the globe and through the spreading of house churches. The Western church can participate in the gospel's global advancement through global partnerships, collaborative ministries that promote apostolically gifted, indigenous leaders who are multiplying churches. This workshop describes the importance of these partnerships, the process of securing them, and the success of several partnerships so far. Aklilu Kassa shares about his own experience in this partnership as a partner in Ethiopia.

Mobilizing

Jim Leffel

Luke 10:1-24

Jesus felt compassion for people before stating that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Jesus saw people and felt for them. In the same way, God calls the church to see people as God sees them. This includes all people, especially the poor and marginalized. We are called to move toward needful people with hands of generosity.