::: COMMUNITY
 
 
 

This area of our site is being reworked at present. We're re thinking some things (always) and we want this area to reflect the direction in which we believe God has been leading us. So keep checking back for more details here.

Basically we are about relationships - our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. God is forming us into a community of people in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ. We're on this long-haul journey together with the knowledge that it can't be done alone.

Our concept of "church" flows out of this core focus on relationships. We want to do what best facilitates being a community like that. We are moving toward a structure which looks like this: a collective of small communities who form one body together. What does that mean? Well, it means that at our core, we will be several different small communities of people who meet together weekly at different times and places, who are all part of the same larger Community or "church", and who all come together possibly monthly in a larger gathering to build each other up and share with each other what God has been doing in the communities.

Now, that's a mouthful I know. Simply put, the smaller groups (we'll call them what they are, communities) will be the center of what it means to be a part of Vine & Branches - they are the "branches" of the "vine" as it were. Community life happens in these groupings of people. Some of these groupings, these communities may even live together - most probably will not. They will be what you might call quasi-autonomous, meaning, they won't be controlled in their every move and decision by central authority. They will be parts of a whole, though and not independent. Vine & Branches Christian Community will be made up of these several small communities who are a part of one another - working together - living the journey together as one body.

We could go on and on but that's the basic structure. It comes out of our theology, out of our deep conviction that what the church is about is spiritual formation, and that is based in relationship and cannot happen properly in any other context. We pray that His Grace will continue to empower us to become what He has created us to be, and to help others do the same.

 




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