What does the Bible teach us about community? How do we do community today? At Open Heaven we have five values and the starting letter of each value spells the word grace. Our fourth value is community. Church is a community of people. We are a community committed to sharing our lives with one another. This is no mere mantra, for some of us this commitment has led to sharing our homes and possessions. We are committed to doing life together because we are challenged and encouraged by those we choose to journey with.

What does it look like for Jesus to be gentle with us? Scripture tells us that Jesus advocates for us in our weakness, but what does this mean? In ancient Israel the King represented God to the people, while the priest represented the people to God. We today need a priest, no less than the ancient Israelites, and our priest is Jesus Christ. Jesus does not dismiss sinners or the lost. He is calm, tender, soothing, restrained. He deals with us gently.

Am I loved for who I am? Can God handle my thoughts and feelings? At Open Heaven we have five values and the starting letter of each value spells the word grace. Our third value is authenticity. Open Heaven is a place where you can be who you really are before God and before others. You will notice that people are really honest with each other about their lives, knowing they are always totally accepted but also knowing that there is help here to become the person they really want to be. We will love you as you are and will inspire you to become more.

How does my faith relate to the rest of my life? How is my faith relevant to those around me? At Open Heaven we have five values and the starting letter of each value spells the word grace. Our second value is relevance. We are committed to creating expressions of church which are always outward looking and relevant to the people we’re seeking to reach. We want our faith to be connected to the rest of our lives. Jesus connected with people who did not regard themselves as religious and we want to do the same. Everyone is welcome and all are invited.

Have you allowed Jesus to move toward you in your suffering, sadness or disappointment? How can we in turn have compassion for the people of our town? The testimony of the four gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the brokenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it. When Jesus touched an unclean sinner, Christ did not become unclean. The sinner became clean. Jesus’ earthly ministry was one of giving back to undeserving sinners their humanity. He walked the earth re-humanising the dehumanised and cleaning the unclean.

How does God’s grace impact my life? How do I grow in my faith? At Open Heaven we have five values and the starting letter of each value spells the word grace. Our first value is growth. We are growing in Christ-like character, generosity and gifting because that enables God to use us to our fullest potential. We are growing in numbers because numbers mean people, and people matter to God. We are growing leaders to influence every sphere of society. We are growing and sending out Church planting teams because Church planting remains the most effective way to make disciples who make disciples.

How do you think Jesus sympathises with us? How might he relate to what we’ve been through? What does it look like for him to empathise with our weaknesses? Jesus is as approachable and compassionate as he was when he walked the earth. It is in ‘our weaknesses’ that Jesus sympathises with us. ‘Sympathise' here is not cool and detached pity. It is a depth of solidarity such as is echoed in our own lives most closely only as parents to children. Indeed it is even deeper than that. In our pain, Jesus is pained; in our suffering, he feels the suffering as his own even though it isn’t.

What is the importance of community? How should we journey well with others?If we are going to be fruitful when we are scattered on our frontlines for the long haul then we need to be faithful in gathering together. To continue to have an impact we need to stay strong and encouraged: we need one another. We, as red dots, need to stay red in a sea of grey dots. Our scattered and gathered lives are irrevocably connected.

What is the impact of our identity? How does who we are relate to what we do?Whoever we are – however insignificant we feel – we make all the difference in the world because we are on our frontlines, first as a son or daughter of the King; a child of God. Our value, our worth, our significance, and our life on the frontline flows from this identity. This is liberating.

How do we stay alert to the opportunities around us? How can we learn to bless others in our day-to-day lives? Everyone has a frontline – a place where we do life or work and where we encounter people who don’t know Jesus. We don’t need to go looking for these, we are already there. We just need to see these places with fresh eyes. God is present in our everyday places and these can be places where God is at work with us. Even the unexpected places can become places of encounter and transformation.