NewChurch Live

Contact vs. Connection

We live embedded in a social media world filled with numerous, and at times overwhelming contacts. But how do we move deeper? How do we move beyond superficial contacts towards the deeper connections God calls us to? We’ll discuss some of the tools that help to guide and keep us there.

Battle

Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, “There is no way to peace along the way to safety. For peace must be dared. It is the great adventure and can never be safe.” His words point to the necessary battles we all will face, and how we can face them together.

Crossing Over

Any new adventure brings a transition, a crossing over and into, while pushing through the stuckness of our normal lives towards new horizons. This week, we explore a refreshing way to view a new start, a start blessed by God.

The Two Things That Solve Everything

When asked, Jesus says that to love God and love our neighbor are the two Great Commandments—that on which everything else hangs. Let’s take a look at what those two phrases actually mean and the magic they can do in our lives. (Special guest Curtis Childs)

Back to School

Join us as we gather to celebrate back-to-school with this special family service.  This year, we look at moving forward with meaning and purpose, as God gives us to see it!

Moving Forward

Life on life’s terms holds small bits of heaven. Likewise, life on life’s terms holds bits of challenge as well, challenge that can at least feel like (or hurt like) hell. Through all that, can we trust the flow of our lives, trusting that a good God is gently, patiently, lovingly leading us to a good place? That means, of course, that we must grow comfortable with movement and change, trusting that we are moving forward.

Filled With Challenges

With a smile, we can safely guarantee that those who believe a connection with God will save them from all the challenges of life, are headed for disappointment. Life – religious or not – is filled with opportunities to stumble. But we can learn to transform those challenges into parts of our story that while hard, also in some subtle way, create life anew. Meeting life on life’s terms means our hearts break. And our hearts break open.

A Taste of Heaven

We will all experience at least a taste of heaven on earth. Those “tastes” will be different but the deeper experience of that soul-level joy, remarkably the same. Life on life’s terms obviously must hold the challenging parts. Thankfully, it holds many beautiful parts as well.  Join us as we examine, together, at what C.S. Lewis called “the secret thread.”

How to Develop Heavenly Habits

“To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.”
-The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

How do we make sure the uplifting spiritual truths we learn make their way consistently and directly into our lives? This service, by Curtis Childs, combines timeless moral principles with modern habit-forming techniques to help us become the people we aspire to be.

Living Our Best Future Now

God writes of gifts. And these gifts are gifts of transmission, gifts both passed on and passed through us. Our task is how we hold them.