“Cultivating community” invites activity on our part, not passivity where we sit and receive the benefits of church membership. In simplest terms, joining God in his mission requires that we work. But what does that look like? What is work for? How did it start? What is a thoroughly Christian conception of work?
This series begins our ministry year, in which we will explore our mission, values, strategy, measures, and the vision for FPC’s future. Over five weeks, we will think together about our mission, which answers the question “What are we doing?” We are cultivating community (Sept 15) in the way of Jesus (Sept 29) for the flourishing of the city (Oct 6). This is our north star, the golden thread that weaves its way through everything we do.
Historically, the Psalms have been a sourcebook for the worship of both Israel and the Christian church, inspiring songs, prayers, and ultimately, a life of trust in God. In this five-week series, we are exploring a few of the 150 psalms, approaching them as songs that Jesus sang—and that we still sing today.
In this series titled For Such a Time as This, we travel 2500 years back in time to uncover a timeless truth—that God is always present, even, perhaps especially, when He seems most absent. Taking place in one of the four capital cities of ancient Persia, the story of Esther has often been neglected throughout church history—at times even forbidden. Why, then, should we study a book like this? Because we, too, live in a time when God can seem absent from the world around us, when God can seem no longer in control.
After celebrating the good news of the resurrection, we continue in the redemption story by engaging with our risen Lord’s words to seven first-century churches. These congregations, which were situated in unique places and had different people with particular passions, each played a vital role in the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom. We hope you will journey with us as we engage with these seven letters and explore what Jesus is saying to us, 2000 years later, in our own context.
This series will carry us through the Lenten season. On Sundays, we will explore the underlying sins that threaten fruitful lives and relationships
with God and others. On subsequent Wednesdays leading up to Holy Week, we will receive God’s guidance on the virtues of a renewed
heart and Spirit-filled life. We encourage you to join us each Sunday and Wednesday this Lent as we focus our hearts
and minds on the vices that made the cross necessary and the virtues that are now possible through life in Christ.
During this five-week series, we’ll consider the new season of salvation history ushered in by Jesus with the proclamation, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). A season that offers a new calling, a new creation, a new commandment, a new community, and a new heaven and earth to those who believe.
The well-known lyrics of Joy to the World echo this opportunity: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let Earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.” This five week series will journey through the accounts of the birth of Christ to help us receive our King and rejoice, which means “to return to the source of our joy.”
While the first half of Paul’s letter to the Galatians outlines the problems with religion, the second half highlights the beauty and brilliance of true faith in Christ. Instead of religious rituals, rules, and regulations, the gospel liberates us to live forgiven and free.
In what is one of, if not the, earliest letter written by the Apostle Paul, the underlying singular problem— the problem underneath all the other problems—of religion is laid bare. In this six-week series, we explore the ways in which faith in Jesus calls us to a completely different life, instead of a merely “religious one.”
In this study, we’ll learn to see God’s greater story in the story of Jonah and in how we can relate to this prodigal prophet ourselves. How many of us have felt like running from God, like everything is going better for everyone else, or that life has tossed us overboard?
Through the writings of Matthew, Luke, and Paul, Pastor Bronzan will guide us each week as we focus our hearts and minds on Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice and gift.
During Advent, we look back to the first coming of Christ while also looking forward to the second coming of Christ. In God’s grand story of redemption, today we live in the in-between and the now-but-not yet. We remember that Jesus, who was faithful to fulfill the promises of God in His first coming, will be faithful to return and complete the promises of God.
Over and over in Scripture we are called to imitate Christ, whether it is Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians (11:1) or Christ’s own call to love as he loved us (John 13:34) or serve others as he came to serve us (Matthew 25:25-28). But how do we grow to become a little more like Jesus each day?
The Gospel of Mark chronicles Jesus’s journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. Along the way, the Messiah gathers a ragged band of disciples. As crowds grow and dwindle on the road to Jerusalem, only a few stick by the Suffering Savior on the road of discipleship.
Advent is a time to reflect on the great promises of the Gospel and prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior. This year, we enter into the promises of God’s history of redemption as proclaimed in Biblical Songs of praise and thanksgiving throughout scripture, called Canticles, through our series: Songs of Advent. Lift your voice alongside Isaiah, Zecharaiah, Mary, and more to glorify God for the story of hope that Advent celebrates.
In this series, we will look at a passage in Paul’s letter to the Colossians (3:1-17) that describes several ways in which we are to “set our hearts on things above” and in the process learn how to imitate the example and life of our Lord and Savior. Each week we’ll take an in-depth look at a specific character trait of Christ (such as his humility) – supplementing the text from Colossians with specific examples from the gospels.
