Elm City Church Podcast

Jesus chose twelve disciples to walk with him, learn from him, and share in his mission. In this week’s message, we look at Luke 6:12–19 and Acts 2:42–47 to explore why smaller communities are an essential part of following Jesus. How can Life Groups help us build relationships where we grow, support one another, and become more like Christ?

We all need a few people who really know us, and this week we look at how Jesus used close relationships to form his disciples and ask: Do I have the relational spaces in my life where Jesus can be formed in me?

Following Jesus was never meant to be a “you and God” thing—it’s a “you, God, and us” thing, as we learn to Lean Into Community and intentionally pursue relationships where we can know others and be known.

In John 4, one woman’s encounter with Jesus impacted an entire community, reminding us that we don’t have to find a mission field—God has already placed people around us whom we can begin intentionally praying for as our BLESS 5.

Jesus doesn't invite us into a busier Christian life but a more joyful one, and in John 15 we discover why living as an EveryDay Disciple begins by abiding in Jesus through prayer and allowing our doing for him to flow from our being with him.

This week we launched our EveryDay Disciple series and discovered how Jesus calls ordinary people to live on mission right where they already live, work, learn, and play.

This week we celebrated God's faithfulness through church planting and were reminded that while not everyone is called to plant a church, every follower of Jesus is commissioned to make disciples by living as a faithful witness in the everyday places God has already sent them.

This week we concluded our Shema series by exploring what it means to love God with all our strength, discovering that following Jesus means joyfully placing everything we have, everything we can do, and everything we influence at his disposal in response to his grace.

In Philippians 3:8–12, Paul describes knowing Christ as more valuable than anything else. Bill Hays explores what it means to know Jesus through the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, challenging us to pursue Christ intimately through His Word, His presence, and a life centered on Him and others.

In Luke 9:18–26, Jesus calls His followers to take up their cross daily and surrender their lives to Him. Through the Hebrew word nephesh, we discover that loving God with all our soul means offering our whole selves — our lives, bodies, and everyday choices — to the One who gave everything for us.