Disciples Making Disciples

By: Angela Wyatt

So, I’m new here. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for the past 10 years of my life – had a full life of ministry, met my husband, had my babies, and loved every minute (including the hard stuff).

Since we’ve been here, I’ve been reflecting often on the graces God lavishly poured out on our family (both individually and as a collective unit) where we came from. Most often, I’m thinking of people – the people who God made our family in a place where most of everyone’s blood families were not.

You see, we as believers are the church. We are the hands and feet of Christ. We are a royal priesthood and a chosen family by the Almighty Creator of all things! What a gift and a joy to get to be in this family! And I’ve heard these terms a lot in my life, but all through in my 20s and early 30s, in NYC, I saw it come to life and I’m so very grateful for it.

As a single woman, and a new believer, I was invited into a few different family moments with a few close friends. I saw conflict, mothering, spousing, parenting, grieving, confusion, divorce, rejoicing, traditions, preferences, culture, hospitality, sin, repentance…all play out right in front of my eyes in living rooms of the gracious people who invited me there. I got married and continued to witness the same things and was built up to live my faith out as a new wife because I had seen the Gospel inform it. I became a mom and began to develop my training techniques and parenting philosophies mostly based on what I had experienced through the Gospel informing others’ interactions with their children.

And the more I ponder my time in New York, the more I get excited (and scared and sad and lots of emos) about life here and the possibility of having people in our home often and intentionally. This is for two reasons.

1. We need to encourage and build up the body.

We need to be including people into our families, and schedules, and into our life. All the times. Even when it’s inconvenient. We tend to get comfortable, settle in, and close off. We tend to like the people like us and who like us and treat us well. We get caught up in our schedules and our kids’ schedules and our “family time” and forget that people need to be in those schedules and in our family time. Because when we are confronted with things, whether it be with decisions we’re making or interactions we’re having, we’re putting our faith on display. And other people need to see that. They don’t always need to hear it retold at a coffee shop or at a small group (although I love a good story!). They need to see it actually lived out in real life. People need to see when my boys have a complete meltdown in the grocery store. People need to see how I encourage my oldest son when he gets pushed around on the playground. People need to see how I treat my waiter when they’re rude. People need to see how we treat the homeless when we walk by. Ladies in my life need to know how I’m treating my husband who confessed sin to me a week ago and I can’t get past it. What do we do? How do we act? How are we treating people? Being in and around real life situations is the best accountability, so we, as believers need it just as much as the people observing. Talking theology is always good. Teaching the Word of God is wonderful. But living it out in the midst of community helps get tactile with what we really believe and who we are really putting our faith in. We are putting flesh on our faith. And we are also making ourselves vulnerable to trusting the faith of others. We cannot be afraid of not being perfect. I have to trust the believers that I’m around to lovingly, gracefully and truthfully build me up by a healthy rebuke if I’m prone to sinning against all of the above people. As family in Christ, we are strengthening each other’s faith, building one another up. We’re allowing the opportunity for our eyes to be opened to blindness. As we extend an invitation into our lives to other people, there will be opportunity to grow ourselves because our brothers and sisters can speak into our life as we harshly discipline our children or have gossipy tendencies towards our friends. But we won’t know if we’re acting in this way if we are always living the bulk of life solely in our homes away from community.

2. We should be bringing those far from or against Christ into our homes to put His love on display.
I believe in the power of the Gospel. I believe Jesus’ church is the hope of the world. I really do. We don’t need fog machines or flashy kids’ programs to see hearts won for Christ. This broken world needs broken people who have Hope in the risen Christ and who let Him affect every aspect of their lives. Not just a piece of their life or a public part of their life. The way that we (as believers – the Church) live should be provocative. It should provoke question and awe. “How are you able to forgive someone who could cheat on you?” “How did you make it through a miscarriage?” “How could you be patient with your child who is constantly screaming?” “How are you single and not having sex?” “How do you handle that?” “How do you do that?” “How can you talk to her again? I thought she was talking horribly about you behind your back?” “Why would you choose to adopt/foster/have kids? That’s too hard for me. I would never be able to do that. That’s not my personality.” Our lives are marked by something other worldly if Jesus’ Gospel is informing these things in our life. In answering these questions, it’s not a time to preach. It’s a time to say be around us. Be known and be loved. Be a part of our family. Sit on our couch. Sit at our dining table. Sit in our backyard at a bbq. Go to Target with me. Or Costco. I don’t want to retell what has happened. I want you to see it. I want you to experience faith in the midst of life and to be encouraged and built up. I want your heart to love Christ more after we’ve spent time together.

This is pretty much a long winded way to explain discipleship. For the older to train up the younger (Titus 2.3-5). As a side note: I think “older” here can mean older in the faith. I was discipled by a woman who was two years my junior and I am forever changed from those days in her home and on her couch and at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square.

This doesn’t mean only opening our home up to people who are like us. If the church is the hope of the world, then we’ll welcome the marginalized, poor in spirit, weak and needy, stay too long on your couch, eat too much of the food you were going to eat for leftovers the following day, say inappropriate things, make awkward jokes…those types of people. How do we make time for those people? How do we love, encourage and build up these people? We invite. And we pursue. We hope to bring the Good News of Jesus to those who are hard to love.

Who are you intentionally discipling? Who’s part of your family who’s not part of your blood family? When are you inviting people into your life and is it only when it’s convenient for you?

John 13:35 says that all people will know that we are Jesus’ disciples if we have love for one another. And we can do this because we were first loved (1 John 4:19). We should do this. We should obey and love one another in this way. It is true, it is good, and it is how people experience the love of God.

My husband, the dreamy dreamy Mr. Bryson D. Wyatt, and I want to continue to grow in this and invite our boys as they grow to be an active part in this. So, invite us to your home. Or come over and sit on my couch. See my boys fight it out at 4:00 before Mr. Wyatt gets home and see how we work it out. And then stay and have dinner and “wear out your welcome”. Can’t wait to meet you and have you help us live out this life of faith.

IF:Local

The vision of IF: is to gather, equip, and unleash women to live out God’s calling on their lives. This February, women will be gathering at the Lancaster City Center building to share meals, dive deep, laugh a little, probably cry some, encourage, equip and participate in this years IF:Conference.

Women teaching and encouraging each other is a truly beautiful thing. We have so much to learn from one another. We have so much to appreciate and celebrate among each other. We have experience to share and it’s important to know that we are not alone.

Bring your IF:table, bring your neighbors, family and friends. Join the women at City Church Friday evening February 5th, through Saturday afternoon, February 6th. You will definitely be encouraged by the teaching, worship, conversation, stories, vision and call to unity. Check out the post on The City for details and don’t forget to RSVP for this event!

FRIDAY

5:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Session One (ends at 10:00)

Saturday

8:30 am Doors Open
9:00 am Session Two
11:30 am Lunch
1:00 pm Session Three
3:30 pm Worship
4:00 pm Session Four

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Titus 2:3-5

Gods Family Stands Apart

By: Tiffanie

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35

As God’s people we are a family; knit together by the love of Christ. In a world of broken relationships, our love for one another stands apart.

Just as we are being reconciled to Christ, we reconcile with one another; speaking truth and not letting the sun go down on our anger, turning our cheeks and valuing what is eternal over perishable things, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Just as we are welcomed by our Father with open arms, we open our hands and our homes to others; welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and even the imprisoned, lending without alterior motivation, giving to the needy, bearing each others burdens, laying down our lives for our friends.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4

Unlike what is common in the world, we are called to honor our parents, to be wise, obey, hate bribes, to set aside greed, to listen and provide for our families.

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8

Surrounded by sorrow and brokenness, loneliness and shame… by our interactions with each other and our words to one another, we get to show the world that “the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” It is not only for our good that our ways are like His, but for the good of his kingdom.

Praise the Lord that we are his chosen children. As we live out this identity of family, in what ways do we build up, disciple and celebrate one another that might reveal the Glory of our Father?

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you…” John 15:12

Being Vulnerable

By: Bethany Fort

Last spring, my husband had a vision to start an organization for “creatives,” people who enjoy the act of making something and sharing their creativity with others. Create Fort Worth has met four times now, and it has become obvious that there are many people who, like us, crave a community of creatives.

Personally, I’ve always seen myself as creative, so being part of this group was not intimidating or challenging for me from the beginning. I enjoy sewing, writing, watercoloring, singing, and other miscellaneous creative things.

Lauren Newman with one of her art pieces for a recent Create Fort Worth gathering.

After our third meeting, I started feeling that I was holding back something. I looked at other people’s projects and they were honest, challenging, and vulnerable. Not just in the content, but in the forms. People were doing things out of their comfort zone and sharing them with this group of people who have met three times. They were using this time to push and challenge themselves as creatives, and I realized that I really wasn’t.

Elizabeth Jackson with one of her art pieces for a recent Create Fort Worth gathering.

Not every creative project we do has to bare our soul, that’s not a requirement for CFW. But shouldn’t some of them put you in a position of vulnerability? And if not, is it because you’re afraid?

This realization, that I wasn’t being vulnerable in my art/writing/singing/whatever, made me analyze other parts of my life. If you aren’t vulnerable in your art, are you being vulnerable in other places? I realized that, no, I wasn’t being vulnerable in my friendships or my faith. Like my art, I was seeking a comfortable place where I could approach people and God with confidence, putting on a shell of perfection.

Art is not about achieving perfection. It is meant to inspire us, to push us, to reflect the perfection of something greater than ourselves.

Although we’ve only met a few times, being in a culture of creative people who are bold and expose their own struggles and flaws through artistic expression has helped me to see my own fear of vulnerability, of disappointing others, of failing. CFW has encouraged me to be vulnerable-in my art, my work, my relationships, and my faith.

Reflections of Blessing

By: Tiffanie

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3

With minds and affections aimed at things above, what more could we want beloved? God gave his Son that all the Nations would be blessed through him. As His body, as His image bearers, we reflect His glory as we bless one another. By words, gifts and actions…

“The Lord has greatly blessed us beyond what we deserve! He provided for us financially through a family at CC and our biological family for some dental expenses. We were blessed by time with our neighbors over the holidays. And God allowed us to bless a single mom whom he’s brought into our life. We are so humbled and grateful for his constant faithfulness and grace.” -Mike and Meridth Dunbar

give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

“I was in the hospital on Christmas. I was so blessed that my family came to celebrate Christmas with me, and so many people from CC came to visit. Many prayed for me, and those prayers were answered! I didn’t require surgery. Such a testament of Christ, and his coming.” -Elizabeth Jackson

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

“As I listened to my friend share her heart and struggles I heard her when she told with me the scripture that the Lord has been speaking to her. I had already given them a Christmas gift, but I knew how to bless her. She cried when I gave her the gift that I put that scripture on.” -Anonymous

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35

“I was really blessed by our Christmas Eve gathering. In a long season of strain and anxiety in my relationship with Father God, one of the joyful things that brings me into worship even when my heart is heavy and unsure is my Family at our church gatherings. I think it was said once in a gathering that it is important to sing loud for the sake of our brothers and sisters encouragement. I was definitely a recipient of that encouragement through our worship on Christmas Eve.” – Hope Simmons

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 1 Peter 4:10

“One of the families I know has tradition of anonymously blessing a friend/family in need with a significant gift every Christmas.” -Anonymous

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4

“Dan and I were reflecting on the morning of Christmas Eve how strange this Christmas felt with not being a part of the school he’s taught at for 7 years and not having my parents in our life (which felt a lot like having a first Christmas in a divorced family) and even feeling still new in our church family, I said it feels like we are invisible kind of. I knew it wasn’t true as soon as I said it…but in a way that’s how I, a big time people person, was feeling in such a festive family friend centered time. That afternoon a friend texted and asked if we had found a car to fit us all yet, we hadn’t. They were on their way to a dealership to buy a new car and wanted us to have their old suburban! That night we got a check from a church member that when combined with monthly ministry giving will pay for all of next months bills and let us do some special things with the kids this week!! God was saying “I SEE you! I’m the only one you need to live for. I have you right where you and your family need to be. Press in to those around you and let Me supply all your hearts longings so that you get the joy and I get the Glory!” -Casey Chappel

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17

“We host a lot. Sometimes things get tight and although we have a “what’s ours is your’s philosophy,” sometimes it isn’t without a little anxiety that we serve what’s left in the pantry, or grind the last of the good coffee. Sometimes we put out the glassware not so much with care of the environment, but because paper and plastic didn’t make the budget and we decided we’d endure the dishes. But God, at exactly the right time sends someone with a box of groceries, a crock pot of chili, a stack of paper plates, or a massive bag of rice. We have been blessed many times by the generosity of our CC family. As we strive to hold our possessions loosely and to give joyfully both when we have and when we do not… we are continually reminded that every good gift comes from above, that it is all His anyway, and that He will always give us our daily bread.” -Stephen and Tiffanie Lloyd

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16

It’s by our love for one another that the world around us will know Him. The blessings we both give and receive are a testimony to God’s goodness, provision and grace. As we reflect on the ways we have seen and received blessing in the last year, let us consider how we can bless others in the season ahead. Through words, gifts and actions we have so many ways to share God’s love with others, glorifying Him and pointing to His blessing and gift of Christ to us.

I Am an Asylum Seeker

By: Rebecca Shingledecker

My name is Rebecca, and I am an asylum seeker. No, I did not enter the United States in fear for my life. However, I once was dead. Lifeless. Hopeless. Ravished by sin that had devastated me seemingly beyond repair.

BUT GOD.

Through an act of undeserved favor, God took me into His Kingdom. He looked at me and said that while I surely didn’t deserve to be granted asylum into His family, he would take me because of the cleansing, purifying blood of His Son.

I look at my life and there can be no question that I am no different than those that come to our country seeking mercy — asylum. I, by the sovereignty of God alone, was born into a country that is not in a civil war, is not causing me to run for my life simply because of my beliefs or any number of factors. I did nothing to deserve this citizenship.

My new friends who are showing up on our shores asking for mercy are very similar to the way I was when I was dead and so desperate for Jesus to take mercy on me — mercy I could not earn, did not deserve. He — never once — shut His door to me, even though it would’ve been well within His rights to do.

Instead, He took me in, knowing I was a disaster in need of a complete overhaul. I was risky, truth be told, and I still am. But words can’t express how deeply grateful I am that He took me in anyhow. Called me His Own. I am no longer a stranger and alien. I have citizenship. A new family. Identity. Such matchless love and unmerited favor deserves nothing less than my all. It begs for me to look to my fellow asylum seekers — regardless of where they were born — and show them the same mercy I was given when I fled for my life. I am glad that He deemed me worth the cost of His life; as are my brothers and sisters seeking our help.

This season, and all the seasons to come — will we show them the same mercy we have been given?

Go here to learn more about the Dash Network and how you can get involved.

Joy to the World Indeed

By: Rebecca Shingledecker

My heart is swollen and overflowing with awe, wonder, gratitude, joy, and a plethora of other emotions I can’t put into words right now. Last night was one of a list of opportunities God has given me in my life of serving Him — the things that allow me to gaze on the wonder of why, on earth, He would allow someone like me to be used by a God as good as HIM.

I am reduced to a puddle of tears and what feels like a babbling attempt to describe how much of an honor it is to serve Him; to gaze upon the advent season and subsequently, the cross with wonder and thanksgiving. Too often, I approach this season with all the wrong attitudes. This is why I am so glad God allows times like these to bring me back to truth. Truth of who He is, and who I am in Him. As I gaze at the manger, I think of my friends that were (are) where I was — so desperate and in need of someone to come and rescue them from the darkness they are in. Then, like a candle lit in the darkest of night, comes the Light of the world.

YES. Praise God, Jesus is the light of the whole world. He has and remains the light of MY world. And yours.

Tuesday night, we shared with our precious newest DASH family that they would no longer have to live homeless. One of the family members’ only request for Christmas was “a place for my family to call our own.” What looked impossible, God made happen — they didn’t think they were going to be placed until the end of January, but God opened up a home!

When I would talk to her prior to this evening, I could hear the sadness in her voice — the darkness. But when they walked through the apartment door, when we shouted WELCOME HOME in joy to this family of four, I could almost feel the light of Christ pushing back the darkness of the trials in her life. All I could say to her was Jesus loves you SO. VERY. MUCH. And this was just a small taste of it.

She knew this as a follower of Christ, but this was an overwhelming reminder. I find it no coincidence that this apartment was ready for her early, just days before we celebrate the birth of The Light of the World! And Jesus didn’t arrive at just any random time when He was born to the virgin.

But when the right time had finally come, God sent His own Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might become God’s children. (Galatians 4:4-5)

As this Advent season comes to a close, I pray that each of us would stop and worship in a new way. In a very personal way. Let us worship our Savior because, among a plethora of other reasons, He is big enough to bring light into our darkness. Joy to the world indeed.

Come, Lord Jesus

By: Blair Browning

A few weeks ago, my family and I snuggled together on the bed near the window and watched as the house next door was demolished. It rained steadily on that bitter cold day as we watched for the better part of an hour, our warm breath fogging up the cold window our five year old frantically wiped clean, so as not to miss a single moment. And as steadily as the rain fell, a sadness, deep and cold, crept into my heart.

Our neighbor had recently sold her childhood home, unlisted and unexpected and unknown, to a housing developer, just after installing a new roof earlier in the spring. She never thought they would tear it down, this home her father originally purchased new in 1926, the home she grew up in, came back to, helped her father die in and lived her older years with her family. She never imagined they would tear down almost 90 years of story. But over the course of a couple of days, we watched, as the home was laid flat while curtains still hung in the windows.

That deep, cold sadness overwhelmed me, and I was struck with the words of James, not new but dusty in the attic of my mind:

You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

Surrounded by the fleeting, the fading, and the broken, we may find our flesh frantically grasping at the breaths of this life, to hold tight to and make permanent the treasures of today. But one cannot hold a breath in one’s hands, and oftentimes the seeming hopelessness of this living bears heavy. The word of God sharpens our focus and rights our perspective when scripture tells us, as believers, we are not of this world, our “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). But this side of heaven, circumstances and situations can muddy our view and we cry out for a comfort, here and now. Amid the hurry and fear and panic of this fallen world, our hearts whisper in anticipation, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

God answered with Immanuel. God with us. Jesus Christ humbly came down to our level as the greatest gift, and then he did the greatest thing that will ever be done. There is no destruction, there is no hopelessness, there is no situation greater than the gifted grace of our Savior. He has come. And he will again.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20)

Why Artvent?

By: Elizabeth Jackson

I’ve been in church a long time, and I’ve done much of the same thing, every year. This is many people’s story, and so some of us, like myself, become calloused towards it. Or perhaps, more in love with the nostalgia, than Christ’s coming.

I recently met with a number of creative types from our church to discuss what we could do during the advent season — something to cut through the traditions of what culture has made of Christmas, and present something that makes people stop, and think. Not just to try to do something new, for newness sake, or to be trendy, or the disgruntled “modern” people we are – but to focus on Christ. To see scripture with a fresh perspective, to be inspired by the gift of God’s Son to us. And that’s what “Artvent” is trying to accomplish.

For example, the piece above is my presentation for peace that’s been on display for the past couple of Sundays. The cage represents the law, which Christ fulfilled, and from which he set us free (Romans 10:4). The sword represents that God is no longer at war with us — that He no longer counts us guilty for sin (Romans 6:23). The white stone is spoken about in Revelation 2:17. In ancient culture, the white stone represents voting someone not guilty, which is how God sees us, because of His son. The branch represents Christ, (Zachariah 3:8) and our reliance on Him for our peace, because we have been grafted in (Romans 11:9). Brought all together, this advent season, we celebrate that peace is obtained through the arrival of Jesus Christ through salvation. And one day, He will bring peace to the world forever, and ever.

In this season, it’s so easy to just walk on by, to be too busy and not be bothered with Christ. All the art, or new ideas can’t change that. It has been interesting to see who asks about the artvent pieces, and who wants to know more about it. But more often, people just walk by, which is an amazingly poignant picture of the gospel actually — He didn’t come with a smoke machine, or lights, or color schemes. He came in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn.