River City Vineyard - Teachings

What an irony to call the Church a super spreader event. On the one hand, yes, we are as long as we are spreading healing and life and truth. But when we foolishly spread an illness and death and conspiracy theories, no we are not and never meant to be. How can we be the super spreader event we are meant to be in light of our current crisis? 

It is not an either...or. It is a both...and. This is a time of both gratitude and grief. As a matter of fact that is the way it has always been. Plus, it is the way of the Kingdom of God.

The Stay at Home order has ended. The Governor has announced the Open Texas Plan. What is our path forward as a community following Jesus? 

During a pandemic and an economic downturn, it is really good to love our neighbors.

Jesus is a bright light shining in a dark world. We live in the tension between his light and our darkness. The global pandemic with almost 3 million human beings infected and almost 200,000 dead in 3 months is a reminder of our darkness. Along with the dark cloud of the pandemic, there is another storm cloud on the horizon, economic recession or possibly depression. This economic downturn is a se...

The has been the most unique Celebration of Resurrection in my lifetime. While we cannot change the circumstances, we can change our vantage point. When we reread the Gospel stories from a different vantage point, we discover we have more in common with the first Easter Sunday this year than ever before. And just in case this is not a comfort to you, remember this unchanging, fantastic, mind-blowi...

We begin a very unique Holy Week this morning. It is Pam Sunday and there will be no parade today. No large crowds. No loud Hosannas. We will celebrate Palm Sunday at home with our family. How different is that?  And then again maybe this provides for us a new vantage point. We can reread the story and see something new from a new view. We will see things that we’ve overlooked in past celebrations...

For the past two weeks and all the sudden changes to our lives due to the very real threat of COVID-19, I have heard Simon and Garfunkel’s classic song, Bridge Over Troubled Water, on auto-play as the background to my many thoughts. The lyrics of the song raise so many good questions for this troubling time. Who will wipe the tears from our eyes? Who will protect us? Who would lay their life down...

A crisis exposes our faith. What kind of faith are we expressing in this pandemic? What kind of faith is expected of us at this time?

"If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn't be Christ's servant." Paul Which will we become: a people pleasers or a servants of Christ?  May the Holy Spirit shape us to be servants of Christ Jesus.

We read in Galatians the story of Paul and the Apostles discussing whether Gentile followers of Jesus should first assimilate into the Jewish culture of the day by the rite of circumcision. Is the Spirit leading us into a similar conversation today in the context of new followers of Jesus being told to first assimilate into certain rites of cultural Christianity?   

As we strive to hold on to the good news of Jesus and at the same time try to navigate life in a "crooked generation" where certain people confuse us and attempt to alter that good news how do we deal with our mental, emotional, and spiritual agitation and confusion?

Our theme for 2020 is "Until Christ is formed in us." We will read through Galatians week by week and ask the Holy Spirit to form our community into the likeness of Jesus.

How is the ministry of reconciliation working in Luton, UK?  What can we learn about reconciliation and peacemaking in our multi-faith, multi-cultural towns and cities.

What we do in 2020 is connected to our core Vineyard Values and to our Center Set philosophy of doing church.

What does this New Year hold for our community?

We are grateful to our friends in Bethlehem for their visits to the US and their willingness to share their story with us.

We watched a short YouTube clip about the Christmas Eve Truce in 1914 and then asked some questions...

We ask our King, Jesus, to exercise his royal power of joy in our community.

The Season of Advent continues. We ask our King, Jesus, to exercise his royal power of joy in our community.

The Season of Advent begins. We welcome our King, Jesus. We ask for Him to exercise his royal power of love in our community.

Molly and Nathanael attended this year's Vineyard Justice Network conference. Here are a few wonderful thoughts from Molly

How do we know when the kingdom is present in our lives? What does the rule of Jesus produce in our lives?

Part of the mystery of the Kingdom is it is both "Here and Not Yet." When "here" we celebrate in the effectiveness of Jesus' rule in our lives. The "not yet" is harder. We have to wait. How do we navigate both the here and the not yet.

A day is coming will all will be perfect. But it is not yet here. So how do we keep hope alive day by day?