Engaging in Mission through Life Groups

Tim Keller

The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome . . . religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.

As we come to understand and respond to God's grace in the gospel we are overwhelmed with a desire to obey the commands of Him who has sent us into the world. Remember in John 20:21 Jesus says, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." We have been sent into the world on mission for the sake of the gospel. We are commanded to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone that God has placed in our lives.

re:Generātion is therefore not designed as a Sunday night gathering for Christians to get together and hang out, but is made up of Life Groups on mission for the sake of the gospel who all gather together weekly to worship God.

In order to keep you posted as to what groups have formed, and what groups are doing we will have a weekly Community post to keep you up to speed. Each week there will also be a Life Group Bio posted so if you are without a group you can read a description of groups already formed.

This week's Life Group Bio comes from James Calkins who has started a group that will begin by reaching out to a local Children's Hospital. Here's what James had to say . . .

Our life group is intended to focus on different "cultural" groups. We will be spending time partnering with a Children's Hospital, going to elderly homes, working with prison fellowship, and helping refugees that live in and around our neighborhoods. As we are spending time with a cultural group the number one goal is to bring the gospel to people through word and deed. Also, as we serve these different cultural groups we want to raise up Life Group leaders in order to have individual Life Groups targeting each of the four areas I have identified. The main point is to reach a lost and dying world with the good news of Jesus Christ, and then raise up new leaders and groups that will continue serving that cultural group.

I am excited to see what God will do through James's Life Group as they seek to reach out to a local Children's Hospital. If you are interested in joining this group they meet at 6pm every Sunday night at New Life church before re:Generātion's Sunday gathering. Come check it out.

If you have questions about how to get plugged in please feel free to contact me at johnmckaysmail@gmail.com

Contemplating “Good” Friday

It’s always struck me as strange that Christians refer to the day of Christ’s crucifixion as “good.” I get the goodness of Easter (even if I don’t get the weird rabbit-and-eggs way we celebrate it). It’s easy to see how Jesus’ triumph over sin and death are “good” things. It’s easy to understand why victory deserves celebration. But defeat . . . death . . . destruction? Why would we want to call all that “good”?

Romans 5:8 and 1 John 4:10 lead us toward an answer.

Romans 5:8

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:10

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [sacrifice of atonement] for our sins.

The point in both verses (and of countless others all through the Old and New Testaments) is that the cross of Christ represents the pinnacle of God’s lavish and costly love for death-deserving sinners like you and me. The goodness of the crucifixion lies not in the victimization of Jesus (whether by God or the worldly powers-that-be) but rather in that, as Peter says in Acts 4:27-28, “truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

In other words, the cross was not an accident. The cross wasn’t Plan B. The cross wasn’t a defeat. The cross (though shrouded in a sort of tragic almost heart-breaking irony) was God’s ultimate triumph over the evil “powers and authorities” (Col. 2:15) of this present world. The cross is God’s testimony that you are “more wicked than you ever dared believe and yet more loved, in Jesus Christ, than you ever dared hope.”

Join with us this Friday at 7pm and 9pm to celebrate the profound goodness of the cross and, until then, take some time to listen through this powerful sermon from Mark Driscoll on the nature and meaning of “Christ on the Cross.”

The Simplicity of Mission

Grant’s talk last night was great . . . or so I hear. Although I wasn’t able to be there in person, I did get to spend some time with him Saturday night listening to the preparation process and I’m excited to check-out the recording once it’s up on Facebook.

What struck me the most was the refreshing simplicity with which he talked about being on mission for Jesus.

Question: How do we do mission?

Answer: We do mission by being witnesses of “these things”— the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Messiah—through the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 24:44-48).

Practically speaking, this means three things:

1. We need to pray . . . for the Holy Spirit to use us.
2. We need to be present . . . in the places where God has sent us.
3. We need to be compassionate . . . especially when it hurts us.

There’s no deep, dark secret to effective mission. All it takes is pray, presence and compassion. Of course saying “all it takes” may be a bit deceptive. What it really takes is God—without whom the whole process would be impossible. But then again, the mission is his anyway, our job is to simply get in on what He’s already doing.

Core Value: Mission

This Sunday night we’re going to be looking at another one of re:Generātion’s core values: mission. Working out of Luke 24:44-53, we’ll examine the what, how, and why of mission all with an eye to answering the fundamental question: “How do I live missionally (that is, for the sake of the Gospel) in every area of my life?” Here are a few quotes to get you thinking:

Ed Stetzer

Being Missional means actually doing mission right where you are. Missional means adopting the posture of a missionary, learning and adapting to the culture around you while remaining biblically sound.

Tim Keller

Ultimately, we are simply following our Savior’s lead as He gave us the ultimate example of being missional when He came from heaven to be a missionary here on earth—talk about contextualization!

Mark Driscoll

It is imperative that Christians be like Jesus, by living freely within the culture as missionaries who are as faithful to the Father and his gospel as Jesus was in his own time and place.

N. T. Wright

The church is called to do the work of Christ, to be the means of his action in and for the world. . . . Mission, in its widest as well as its more focused senses, is what the church is there for. God intends to put the world to rights; he has dramatically launched this project through Jesus. Those who belong to Jesus are called, here and now, in the power of the Spirit, to be agents of that putting-to-rights purpose.

—Grant B.

re:Generātion Launch is in the books...

re:Generātion launch tonight was AMAZING!!! We are off to a great start and I am extremely excited to see how God is going to use re:Generātion for the sake of the gospel in the greater Portland area. Remeber to be thinking about what life group you would like to start, lead or be a part of. If you have any questions at all don't hesitate to email me at johnmckaysmail@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone who came and don't forget to bring a friend next week... or two.

John

One more day until the launch!

We have finally come to the official beginning of re:Generation. As most of you already know the video can be found on Facebook. To post the video on your page just click share and all the information as well as the video will appear on your page. As you think about this Sunday night be praying that God would be glorified, that believers would be strengthened and encouraged and that the lost would hear and respond to the gospel.

Looking forward to seeing all of you Sunday night at 7pm for night one of re:Generation.

John

re:Generātion Launch

re:Generātion Promo from New Life Church on Vimeo.

re:Generātion exists to engage young adults in gospel-centered community focused on worship, mission and leadership development.

re:Generātion gathers Sunday nights at New Life Church from 7:00-9:00pm (Life Groups start at 6pm).

New Life Church is located at:
1984 McKillican St.
West Linn, OR 97068
Phone: 503-656-8600