Area 10 Faith Community

Have you ever been so convinced you were right that you couldn’t even imagine being wrong? We all get things wrong sometimes, but admitting our mistakes can be a lot harder than making them in the first place.

Join us this Sunday, October 18, as we explore how guilt and shame can distort the way we see ourselves, and how being honest about where we’ve fallen short can help us make things right and move forward. Because our mistakes may be part of our story, but they don’t have to define who we are or who we’re becoming.

Who are you? Most of us have no idea how much of what we call "ourselves" is really just a mirror of the crowd that we are around most often. This week we will look at the example of Jesus who show us what it takes to get an identity sturdy enough to survive when that crowd turns on you.

We’re quick to label people by their past, their politics, their personality, their failures, or the things we can see on the surface. But no label tells the whole story. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul reminds us that Jesus changes not only how we understand ourselves, but how we see and treat others. Because God has reconciled us to himself and is still at work making things new, we’re called to become people of reconciliation who tell the truth without contempt, remain curious about the people around us, leave room for change, and represent Jesus with both grace and conviction.

Before glass, mirrors were bronze, dim, and warped, showing you less than the truth. Now the mirror in your pocket (Phones!) lies the other direction, showing you who you wish you were, and it's getting better at it every year. This week we open Smoke and Mirrors with a walk through Ephesians 2, asking where an honest, kind answer to the question, "who am I", actually comes from.

Everybody says they want to change the world, but almost nobody can answer the question: change it to what? This week we close out our Built for This series and our capital campaign by giving Richmond a real, specific answer.

Your body is wired to need other people, and the data on loneliness proves it. This week we look at why Area 10 exists to help you find your people, not just attend a service alone.

We all want meaningful relationships, but why can it be so hard to find real community? When life falls apart, we need people who know us, love us, and are willing to carry our burdens—but that kind of community requires us to be vulnerable enough to be known. This week, we’ll look at what the early church understood about doing life together and discover that the goal isn’t simply joining a group—it’s learning to follow Jesus together.

Barbie asked it, Solomon asked it, and you’ve probably asked this question too: What was I made for? People from all times and culture (from great philosophers to powerful kings to first-year philosophy students) have asked this same question and still come up empty. This week at the Byrd Theater, we're asking the question many of us have been avoiding our whole lives: What were you actually made for?

Everything that can be shaken is being shaken right now:the institutions, the politics, the cultural certainties and most of us are anxious about all of it. This Sunday at Area 10 we're finishing our fourteen week series through Hebrews with one final question: what does it mean to be a citizen of a kingdom that cannot be moved?

Most of us have a story we tell about our hardest season, and most of us have never stopped to ask whether the story is actually true. This Sunday at Area 10 we're looking at what the book of Hebrews says about the difference between being punished and being formed, and why that distinction changes everything about how you carry the hard thing you're in right now.