Articles & Stories
Resources to inspire, challenge, and inform
Too often we make “inviting someone to church” WAY more intimidating than it needs to be. Numerous research studies show that people are much more likely to show up on a Sunday morning than we think. The key ingredient that these studies find is that people will show up if invited by someone they know. So let’s explore easy ways to extend an invitation to someone in our life who doesn’t normally “go to church”.
What follows is a story from Brian Steere on how an act of kindness changed his life. “I met Matt Paddack, Relevant’s Worship Pastor, in November of 2015. A few months prior, my marriage was irretrievably broken, I had lost my job, I had no money, and I was unable to pay my bills for several months. I thought I was going to lose my possessions like my house and vehicles. Christmas was coming and I couldn’t even provide a gift for my child.”
If we’re being honest, pretty much everybody feels warm and fuzzy on the inside when we are the recipient of generosity, OR when we get to bless someone else. Unexpected generosity is especially powerful. It can change a person’s day….sometimes, their life. With all that's going on in our country right now, it's time to show some kindness to one another, don't you think?
One of our greatest desires as Relevant Community Church is to be a difference-making church. There are some key differences between people who “go” to church (“churchy people”) and people who are the church (“difference makers”). If we really want to be difference makers and be a difference-making church, we need to take a long, hard look at our lives and consider whether we are living as churchy people or as difference makers.
"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." – Mahatma Gandhi. How many times have you heard of people leaving the church or speaking against Christianity, not because of God but because of us, because we love so contrary to the Jesus we say we follow? We have made it hard for people to see Jesus because of how we love…or how we don't love. We must change this!
God appeared to Moses – an old murderer, liar, and coward who was doing the lowly job of a shepherd – in a burning bush. He told Moses about His big plan: freeing the Hebrew people from slavery and leading them to land He had promised them they would possess long before. AND then…God said something Moses never saw coming…
It's been a fun couple weeks as we've heard TONS of stories about people using the Something Unexpected Cards! Below is a string of many of the posts we've seen on social media so far. Search for the hashtag #SomethingUnexpectedCards on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to stay up to date on how Relevant folks are blessing others during this Christmas season.
Raise your hand if you hate being generous. Raise your hand if you hate being on the receiving end of generosity. Anyone? Generosity is a two way street paved in chocolate. If they’re being honest, pretty much everybody feels warm and fuzzy on the inside when they are the object of generosity, or when they get to bless someone else.
