City Church OTR Messages

This Sunday at City Church, we began At His Word, a five-week series where we'll be taking a closer look at the Bible and exploring why we can and should trust it as the Word of God.

Chris started the series by talking about the inspiration and canonization of Scripture. While the Bible was written by human authors, it was inspired by God. We also looked at how the Bible came together through the work of people who devoted themselves to studying the ancient texts and seeking to understand and preserve God's truth.

This week, Kristen concluded our Framework series, exploring City Church’s four core values. Jesus is our foundation, and it's our responsibility to build the framework around Him. Our final value was Formation. Formation is the continual process of turning back to God's truth and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out. We are constantly being formed by the stories we believe, the practices we engage in, and the relationships we cultivate. But are those things shaping us to look more like Jesus? As followers of Christ, we are called to be formed by God's truth, allowing His Word to be the lens through which we view our lives and the foundation of our transformation.

This week, Chris continued our Framework series, exploring City Church’s four core values. Jesus is our foundation, and it's our responsibility to build the framework around Him. This Sunday's focus was Presence. As Christians, we carry the name of God and are called to represent Him and His Spirit in everything we do. But success without the presence of God isn't true success. We don't want to go anywhere He isn't going with us! How often do we intentionally invite God into our decisions, our plans, and our everyday lives? What does it look like to prioritize His presence above our own ideas of success?

This week, Michelle continued our series on City Church’s four core values, which we are calling Framework. Jesus is our foundation, so it’s up to us to create the Framework. This Sunday’s focus was on our value of Mission. Our mission is to make disciples, love one another, and seek the good of our city. We are all called to move beyond spiritual selfishness and allow God to use us to make an impact where He has uniquely placed us.

This week, Chris continued our series on City Church’s four core values, which we are calling Framework. Jesus is our foundation, so it’s up to us to create the Framework. This Sunday’s focus was on our value of Family. Family is the context in which we practice all our other values. As people created to live in community, we are cultivating the kind of family Jesus introduced to the world—friends that feel like family.

This week, we celebrated City Church’s 6th birthday and kicked off a brand new series, Framework, focused on the values that shape who we are as a church. Chris also took the opportunity to cast vision for the year ahead, asking: Where are we going? What are we focusing on? And where is God leading us?

This Sunday, we wrapped up one of our very favorite weeks of the year, Burn Week. Chris shared stories and testimonies of what God did throughout the week as we gathered twice a day for prayer and worship. Then he invited four young adults who are each involved in leading ministry movements to share about what God has been doing in and through Gen Z. They encouraged the older generations in our church to invest in, believe in, and make room for the next generation. It was a powerful picture of generations coming together to see God move.

This Sunday, Chris kicks off one of our favorite times of the year: Burn Week! Burn Week is a week-long rhythm of prayer and worship, gathering twice a day from Sunday through Thursday. We set aside our normal routines and disrupt business as usual to seek God, make room for His presence, and prepare our hearts for the return of Jesus.

To wrap up our series on Mission, Jason Scott co-taught with guest speaker and friend of City Church OTR, Wilson Cochrane, on how living on mission can transform the world around us.

Both Jason and Wilson have made a meaningful impact in Cincinnati through their own ministries, but neither of them does it alone. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live boldly, love deeply, and make a lasting Kingdom impact right where God has placed us. The mission is bigger than any one of us—and we get to be part of it.

This week, Chris continued our Missions series by talking about generosity and how God calls us to live generously for the sake of His Kingdom. He was joined by a panel who shared how choosing a life of generosity has impacted their own lives and the lives of those around them. Generosity isn’t just something we give—it’s a way we live that makes room for God to move and His Kingdom to grow.