The Well Church of the Nazarene

God calls us to an ever-expanding, ever-deepening community. And intimacy and vulnerability in our relationships is a much deeper concept than just companionship alone.

The need for intimacy is not weakness--it is an essential part of our created identity. The church is intended to be a place where intimate relationships are formed and providential relationships are nurtured.

Will you be faithful to the relational opportunities in our church?

In order to understand the importance of community, we need to understand the nature of our Creator and our created identity. Community, and the deep connections/relationships within, is ingrained in the fabric of creation. 

God calls us to an ever-expanding, ever-deepening community. He was intentional with creation, therefore we need to live intentionally in order to experience community as God intended.

Our Advent/Christmas series this year centers around the idea of disruptive innovation--an innovation that impacts the lives of ordinary people. Christmas is a disruptive innovation--Jesus changed everything. Life will never be the same.

Last week (in part one), we learned that we experience the Kingdom by turning to God and trusting Him, not through perfect religious performance. This week's "disruptive innovation" is the idea that God doesn't just want our best--He wants our broken.

Our Advent/Christmas series this year centers around the idea of disruptive innovation. The word "disruptive" doesn't always mean something negative. It's simply a break in our normal course. And as we've seen with computers, cell phones, and Henry Ford's assembly line, innovation can radically alter our lives.

Christmas is a disruptive innovation, changing the lives of ordinary people. Life will never be the same.

This week we're looking at the life and ministry of John the Baptist, and learning how God invites us to life change, not religious observation. We fully experience life in God's Kingdom by turning from sin and trusting Him, not through perfect religious performance. What is holding you back from starting in the right direction?

This month we've been focusing on Psalms, using them to fill in the blank: "I have a reason to sing because ______." The goal is to remember that while life may not be perfect, we have a reason to sing.

This week we're looking at Psalm 56. "I have a reason to sing because... God gives life.."

In this week's edition of The Podcast (for lack of a better name for now), Josh, Mara, and Paul expand on Sunday's sermon by discussing what it looks like to live a lifestyle of forgiveness. 

Forgiveness is a common theme in the Psalms. What role did forgiveness play in David's identity as a man after God's own heart? Are there conditions to forgiveness? How important is confession in our relationship with both God and others? Is there a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation? And, how can we model this lifestyle of our forgiveness to our children?

Lots of good nuggets from this week's conversation--we hope you enjoy it!

It's easy to get lost, right? Even with a GPS. In regard to navigating life, however, how do we choose God's direction? What does that look like? And when you decide to change direction according to God's will, does that mean you have to go back and undo or fix every wrong single turn you've made in the past? No! 

God's given us his Word. His direction. What we have to do is make the next right choice. Sometimes that's difficult and we like to ask ourselves why things are so hard. But maybe we should be asking why we expect doing the right thing to be so easy?

This is a great discussion to carry over and share among your family--including kids and teens!--and we encourage you to keep the conversation going at home.

This month we're focusing on Psalms, and using them to fill in the blank: "I have a reason to sing because ______." The goal is to remember that while life may not be perfect, we have a reason to sing.

This week we're looking at Psalm 119. "I have a reason to sing because... God gives us good direction."

The Psalms invite us to sing, to praise God, even when life's not perfect. This week's focus teaching centered on Psalm 23, in which we've been able to explore some of the many parallels between a shepherd and his sheep and God and his people. 

Watching this discussion between Mara, Josh, and Paul, you'll learn a lot about sheep you may not already know--a lot of which we can relate to. It can be quite humbling to acknowledge that we are sheep in need of a shepherd, but it's important to note that not only do sheep thrive in community, they can learn to discern the voice of their shepherd. 

What does this mean for us when we face times of discontent, or when we find ourselves "in the valley of the shadow of death," and culture is pulling us away from our faith?

This month we're going to focus on Psalms, and using them to fill in the blank: "I have a reason to sing because ______." The goal is to remember that while life may not be perfect, we have a reason to sing.

This week we're looking at Psalm 23. "I have a reason to sing because... God is with me during every period of my life."