Music City, Songwriting capitol of the world, Athens of the south. All these labels describe the types of work our city does well—the types of work that cause people to move to Nashville. But when you talk to people about why they want to stay in Nashville, you don’t usually hear them talk about their type of work. Instead, you hear them talk about the type of people in Nashville. They describe the area as friendly, warm, fun, etc. Music may bring them here, but the people make them want to stay.
There will inevitably be a wide range of reasons why people come to Redemption City. But we understand that one of the key reasons they’ll want to stay (or not) has to do with the type of people we are. We believe that the type of community Jesus is calling us to be is seen in the book of Acts. This Redemptive Community is marked by both Depth and Growth. In Acts 2:41-47, we see the early church doing life with each other at a relational depth that we all long for, yet, frankly, probably think is impossible. They know each other and are known by each other. BUT their relational depth did not stunt numerical growth. Their community didn’t turn into a relational cul-de-sac. Instead, we see a community experiencing explosive growth, as God multiplied their community greatly. Their community was marked by both Depth and Growth.
We are praying that Redemption City Church will be marked by both Depth and Growth as well. And in order to do this, we think that we have to be a people marked by four key things:
Intentional People – Creating a community marked by both Depth and Growth won’t happen on accident. With overcommitted schedules, the Facebook and twitter illusion of friends, and other factors, it can be difficult to create a community like this. We have to be intentional about engaging people at a deeper level relationally WHILE reaching out to the people Jesus has placed all around us. Let’s live life on purpose.
Flexible People – One of the prayers for Redemption City is that our church look like our community. And our community is made up everything from white collar, blue collar, and no collar folks. We have everything from artists to rednecks. We have introverts and extroverts. We have Cardinals fans (sadly) and Cubs fans:). Each group of people have their own unique views on parenting, marriage, lifestyle, etc. When you put all those different types of people in a home group, church, etc., it will be messy. It was messy for the early church and it will be messy for us. But the community that we all long for only exists in that mess. In order to thrive in the mess, we have to be a flexible people.
Prayerful People – We won’t have the Depth or Growth that we want apart from Jesus’ help. This, of course, is why we have to be a prayerful people. In prayer, we are acknowledging that we can’t create this and asking God to do it for his glory. Without the prayer in Acts 1, we probably wouldn’t have the power displayed in Acts 2. Let’s ask Jesus to do the impossible as we pursue the path to which he’s called us.
Gospel People – Redemptive Community has the gospel at the center. It creates a community marked by Depth and Growth. It has Depth because the gospel removes the need to pretend like we have it all together. If we did, then there would be no need for the cross. The good news of the gospel can only be heard in contrast to the bad news of our situation. In groups then, we don’t have to pretend like everything is okay. And when we stop pretending, we become a people of depth. Also, the Gospel cause Growth. In short, it is the best news in the world. If we truly understand the gospel, we will want to share it. We all tell people about our favorite restaurants, movies, etc. It’s silly to think that we wouldn’t share the best news in the world. As a gospel people we will be marked by both Depth and Growth.
At Redemption City, we hope that our community will be marked by both Depth and Growth. It marked the early church and meets many of the needs for which our community longs. We’d love for you to consider helping us build this kind of community as we build his city in our city.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.