May 16-29 disussions around The City Church involve seeing God's will in our suffering, from Philippians 1:1-18. Suffering is a tough, personal topic. So in addition to discussion in your Villages this week, we wanted to provide you with some resources and next steps, to encourage you to suffer well.
At our All-Church Gathering on April 18, 2010, we introduced The City Church's first-ever Pastor-Elder and Deacon candidates to our church famly. This month begins their period of testing and approval, which will include several months of vigorous training, as well as several months for our church body to get to know them, test them, push on them, and affirm them as leaders.
As The City Church walks through Paul's Letter to the Philippians, we are excited to let you know that we're increasing the time our entire church spends together as a larger, unified church body. BUT, we're doing so in a unique way.
From our launch date in January 2010, All-Church Gatherings have been every other Sunday evening, for two reasons:
These are the types of questions the Apostle Paul asks, writing from the depths of prison as he reflects on his own life and looks toward his impending death. Philippians is one of the last letters written by Paul, to his friends in Philippi, and his constant message is clear, in every point of this biblical book: "friends, fight for joy."
We need all hands on deck as we fix up, paint, renovate, & update our new, old Samuels Ave Building (please come; info here) But after we finish up, there's a big shindig in Near Southside you should check out.
From fortworthology.com, a great website you should get to know, about all things Fort Worth:
> Foundations begins this Sunday
> All-Church Gathering this Sunday
> Help Fix Up Our Samuels Ave Building
> Easter Weekend
> reCREATE
The City Church's first Easter Weekend is less than a month away, and we wanted to let you know how we'll celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the grave as a church family. We encourage you to remember that Easter is one of those weekends in the year when folks who avoid church the other 50 weeks will pop back in - pray and look for open doors in your neighbors, co-workers, and friends' lives, and bring them along to one of our Gatherings:
If you weren’t at The City Church’s All-Church Gathering Sunday, Feb 21, you missed the announcement that the church body of Samuels Ave Baptist Church is becoming part of The City Church family! A 75-year-old church with a long history of impacting the neighborhood northeast of downtown, Samuels Ave has had a hard time adjusting to the changing neighborhood in Trinity Bluffs, and voted on Feb 14 to dissolve and become part of The City Church.
In these first few weeks of The City Church's existence, we have been blessed and excited to see many folks jump into Villages, catch our church family's vision, and begin living life as "communities on mission" in your neighborhoods, jobs, etc. And we're excited and honored that the people of Sameuls Avenue Baptist Church are becoming part of The City Church family - it's a fast-paced, joy-filled season in our young church's life, to be sure!
This Wednesday, February 17, marks the beginning of the hundreds-year-old Christian tradition of Lent. Many folks grew up celebrating Lent; several others have no idea what it is; lots of us find ourselves somewhere in between. This week Ben is posting a few glimpses into Lent on his blog. Here's what you can expect:
