Elm City Vineyard Church Talks Elm City Vineyard Church

How often do we lose sight of God’s character? We rupture a relationship and feel guilty. We sin and justify ourselves instead of seeking forgiveness. We lose our job and feel devastated. We need to remember who God is. God is powerful. God is alive. God is a unifier who makes us one. God is love. God is generous. God is light. The letter to Ephesus declares who God is, and we will ask God to help us not only believe these truths but walk them out in our lives.
- Series Description -How often do we lose sight of God’s character? We rupture a relationship and feel guilty. We sin and justify ourselves instead of seeking forgiveness. We lose our job and feel devastated. We need to remember who God is. God is powerful. God is alive. God is a unifier who makes us one. God is love. God is generous. God is light. The letter to Ephesus declares who God is, and we will ask God to help us not only believe these truths but walk them out in our lives.

When Paul wrote to the church of Colassae, perhaps Paul wondered, “What if tomorrow, different households became faithful witnesses to the person of Jesus in all that they do? What would our world look like with multiple homes on fire with the Holy Spirit?” Paul’s ancient letter to the Colossians encourages the church of Colassae to dwell with Jesus’ teachings, clothing themselves with what they have received from God and encouraging them to practice this first in their household. This Sunday, Kim and all of us will be in wonder: How can we be faithful witnesses through mutual submission under Jesus in the context of today's power structures?
- Series Description -
Stories are so important to our culture. Whether it’s the story of our country or our family or even our favorite novel, stories have the power to ground us, inspire us, and give us hope. This summer, we’ll be studying the letter to the Colossians that hones in on a really important story for all of humanity: the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus. This Gospel story isn’t only in the Bible. It’s happening. Paul says it’s even connected to hope laid up in heaven for us. Need some more hope this summer? Come and get your fill from a story you can join.

When we look at the world around us, there is so much death. So many default ways of being and living that bring about harm, emptiness, something other than freedom. We see it in our individual lives, and we see it in the oppressive systems and structures all around us. And yet, Jesus invites us to live with our minds and hearts set on a different Way, a Way from above that is life and peace and freedom. How do we walk out this tension, as Jesus people in a decaying world? Paul’s ancient letter to the Colossians invites us to put on this Kingdom way not as individuals, but as a corporate body - in transforming, humbling, radical unity with one another. This Sunday, Tina will be walking us through Jesus’s invitation for us to be made new in Christ, formed in the Way of the Kingdom of God in & through Christian community.
- Series Description -
Stories are so important to our culture. Whether it’s the story of our country or our family or even our favorite novel, stories have the power to ground us, inspire us, and give us hope. This summer, we’ll be studying the letter to the Colossians that hones in on a really important story for all of humanity: the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus. This Gospel story isn’t only in the Bible. It’s happening. Paul says it’s even connected to hope laid up in heaven for us. Need some more hope this summer? Come and get your fill from a story you can join.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians urgently encourages the church in Colossae to remember their connection to Christ, where the fullness of God lives. Christ, the head of the Church. Christ, the one who aids God in reconciling all to Himself. Paul wants the Colossians to know that they are complete in Christ. Yet, many of them are living captive to deceptive philosophies and empty practices. A growing number were fascinated by a syncretic mix of following Jesus, rules from Judaism, gnostic religion, and “the elemental spirits of the universe.” They cheated themselves out of freedom in Christ. Instead of being complete, they let themselves be captive. As we think about our faith in Jesus, is it marked by full dependence on Christ? Of course, us being complete in Christ doesn’t mean, we’ve arrived. Instead, it means we can grow in the one who completes us vs. be distracted by a need for empty rules and habits that move us further away from Christ even when their lure of safety, certainty, or spiritual power draw us in. This Sunday, let’s dwell on the only one who offers completeness instead of more captivity.
- Series Description -
Stories are so important to our culture. Whether it’s the story of our country or our family or even our favorite novel, stories have the power to ground us, inspire us, and give us hope. This summer, we’ll be studying the letter to the Colossians that hones in on a really important story for all of humanity: the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus. This Gospel story isn’t only in the Bible. It’s happening. Paul says it’s even connected to hope laid up in heaven for us. Need some more hope this summer? Come and get your fill from a story you can join.

In the first two weeks of our teaching series on the book of Colossians, we've explored the "hope laid up in heaven" (Col 1:5) that the gospel articulates, good news that "bears fruit" in the communities to which it has come all over the world. While Christ's supremacy has been "proclaimed to every creature under heaven," the rule and reign of God is not yet "all in all" (as 1 Cor 15:28 puts it), and Paul urges the Colossians to "continue...steadfast in the faith" (Col 1:23).
In v. 24, Paul—who, after all, is writing from prison (4:3)—makes clear that his having become a "servant" of the gospel (1:23) involves "suffering" (1:24) and no small amount of "struggle" (2:1). Deepening roots of faith in Jesus, Paul suggests, result not (only) in comfort, but (also) in costly service in pursuit of the kingdom of God. Join us this Sunday as we invite the Lord's formation and encouragement to "continue steadfast in the faith" especially when our faithful service in response to the good news of Jesus leads us into suffering.
- Series Description -
Stories are so important to our culture. Whether it’s the story of our country or our family or even our favorite novel, stories have the power to ground us, inspire us, and give us hope. This summer, we’ll be studying the letter to the Colossians that hones in on a really important story for all of humanity: the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus. This Gospel story isn’t only in the Bible. It’s happening. Paul says it’s even connected to hope laid up in heaven for us. Need some more hope this summer? Come and get your fill from a story you can join.

We conclude our post-Easter teaching series, Empty, on the Sunday that concludes Eastertide in the church calendar: the feast of Pentecost. We've explored the idea that empty things-- like the empty tomb of Easter morning-- can be places of blessing. When we empty our schedules, wallets, resumés, beds and more to be present to God we can experience his life-giving abundance.
Join us this Sunday when we'll empty out some of the time we typically devote to teaching to engage with the Lord and be filled with the Holy Spirit whose coming to the fledgling post-Resurrection church we celebrate on Pentecost.
- Series Description -
Following our Easter service exploring the power of the empty tomb, we will spend several weeks looking at how resurrection changes emptiness. Because of the resurrection, we know that empty things can be blessed. And some things need to be emptied to be consecrated for blessings that go far beyond what we can see. How do our schedules, wallets, contacts, and more need to be emptied in order for us to experience God’s abundance? Come and learn more.