Author: Believers Church

March 20, 2019 Believers Church

The River Falls Outreach is looking forward to upcoming Spring weather as well as a new season of ministry. 

Sundays

On Sundays we have been studying the book of Ephesians, learning about our place in Christ and our potential place in the Body of Christ. We continue to watch videos teachings from Menomonie about once per month. As spring and summer approach (!) we are considering what we will be changing for our community outreach. Last summer we focused on weekly grill outs at the Street Level location. We may continue on with the same, but are praying for the right ideas.

Street Level

Street Level we recently finished a very practical study of Ruth. We discussed ideas of God’s faithfulness, God’s leading, and our loyalty and consistency. We also discussed what it looks like to let God lead us into relationships. While the Ruth studies have been one half of our time, the other half has been spent in various videos discussing broad topics of central Christian belief. The content captures common views of the world on each topic while seeking to engage a conversation based on logic, the Bible, tradition, and personal experience.

Building Updates

Spring Break is upon us next week at UW-River Falls, so Street Level we will be down for a week. During this time, we will be working on several updates and building improvements. These changes are being put in place in order to further develop our “coffeehouse” appearance and presentation. The majority of the work will be done behind the counter in the coffee area, but some aesthetic additions will be done also. We will depend on some help from Nehemiah and Creative Team from Menomonie. More details to come in the near future.

Prayer

If you are considering praying for the outreach in River Falls, here are some requests. 1) That we have a clear path forward through our building updates and the results will be effective for the Kingdom. 2) That we continue to build and strengthen relationships with individuals that attend. 3) We are prepared to alter the outreach for the summer in order to best engage the community.

April Calendar

  • Sundays: 5pm / JFBelievers Bible Study,  6pm / meal
  • Tuesdays: 6:30pm / Street Level Meal, 7pm / Bible Study
  • Thursdays: 5-9pm & Fridays 9am-3pm: Open Hours for Study

River Falls Ministry Online

March 16, 2019 Believers Church

Mission Statement

The Kindred Ministry Exists to provide a spiritual family for single adults, offering fellowship, discipleship, and outreach to our local community.

Fellowship & Community Outreach

As we turned our calendars to 2019, the Kindred Ministry hosted an afternoon of holiday goodies, puzzles, and board games in the Blind Munchies. We packed the place out as church members and friends enjoyed mixing it up for an afternoon of goodies and laughter.

Goodies & Games

The Kindred Ministry hosted a Super Bowl grilling tailgate party in February. Once again, the Blind Munchies was packed with church members enjoying the game along-side various friends from the Menomonie community. We served over 70 brats and 70 servings of super nachos. A few lucky Super Bowl Bingo winners went home with a chocolate football, a free BMC breakfast, and a sweet BDR cap.

Super Bowl Tailgate Party
Bingo!

Later in February, the One Life Couples Ministry invited us to mix our group with theirs on five bowling teams. We dressed up with team themes, and took to the lanes for some serious bowling! The videos below say enough…

Laura!?!
Synchronized Bowling

Discipleship

Though we like to have fun, we realize if we aren’t growing as disciples, then we are missing the point. We entered 2019 with the book “The Holiness of God” from our Kindred Ministry Retreat. As we read and discuss, we hope to gain a better understanding of who we are, and the holiness God has called us to.

On that note, our Kindred members also meet regularly to read and discuss the book “Discipling” by Mark Dever. Our hope is to gain insight that we can put into practice for those we rub shoulders with in church, at work, in our families, and elsewhere.

Prayer Requests

  1. That we might continue to grow in holiness in our individual lives as image bearers of God.
  2. For greater love and service to one another, our church family, and our local community.
  3. That we would grow as disciples and disciplers, so we can better meet the spiritual needs of those we rub shoulders with at church, in our jobs, and in our local community.
March 13, 2019 Believers Church

Jesus Was Charismatic.

Much of what Jesus did in His earthly ministry was done to bring Him into contact with the masses. He wasn’t at all stationary. Instead, He and His disciples moved about in a wide swath of missional ventures that put them in the path of both slaves & soldiers, lepers & liars, criminals, kinfolk, and kings. Isolation is no recipe for effective ministry, and no one knew that better than our Lord.

Not only was Jesus assertive in His ministry, He was also attractional. The words He spoke and the things He did were impossible to ignore and exciting to behold. Everywhere He went Jesus provoked curiosity, offered blessing, and demonstrated matchless hospitality. He healed, fed, and educated, always free of charge, lavishly blessing the masses as He went. The average day for Jesus would be enough to make modern newspaper headlines in any given city. There was something about His ministry that left multitudes of people with an uneasy feeling that they might miss whatever came next. And that’s why they followed Him. And that’s the way Jesus started His church.

We’re not as Charismatic as Jesus.

Our capacity to attract the multitudes, as a church, may not match the capacity that Jesus had, but our strategy can. We can practice hospitality and bless visitors in a similar way, even if not to the same degree. In other words, we might not have the same miracle-working power it takes to feed strangers with loaves and fishes that come out of thin air, but we can give people free ice cream that came from the supermarket! And we may not be able to walk on water like Jesus did, but we can most certainly do this…

Nobody at my church, including myself, has the same healing power or the same measure of intrigue as Jesus did, but we’re not without our own resources, and God still expects us to assert ourselves in this community. And so we will.

A New Mission for JFB Duluth.

Seeing this facet of Christ’s ministry more clearly than ever, and being at a stage of church development where we had the necessary resources to give focused attention to this growing need, JFB Duluth made the decision last year to form what we have simply called “Community Group”. Nothing fancy, but it’s a start. We are now rapidly approaching the beginning of our second year as a “small-group” ministry, and we feel that the Lord is pleased with our work thus far. The members of this Group are few; and intentionally so. We are wanting to ensure that this ministry develops according to God’s desires rather than the misguided zeal of its participants. The things being done by this group aren’t heavily advertised to the church. They needn’t be. The focus of this particular small-group ministry isn’t meant to be on the church, but on the community.

This does not mean, however, that we want to exclude the church from being involved in our activities from time to time. That is, in fact, one of the goals of our Community Group Ministry: To collaborate with the entire church, as well as with Street Level Ministries, giving everyone an opportunity to cooperate with us in reaching out to the greater community. From Christmas Festivities, to the New Year’s Eve celebration, our 10-Year Anniversary Party, bi-annual All-Church Rummage Sales, and our most recent “Sled-less Sledding” excursion (all of which were ‘sponsored’ by our Community Group)…these are wonderful opportunities for you to be included in the work of the ministry by inviting the community to follow us, as a church, wherever we go next.  

We’re After Fruit that Lasts.

We’re blessed by God when we’re on mission, and we plan to continue with this work. Our Community Group doesn’t do what it does without a purpose. As fun as it is to go sledding, there was a greater reason for doing it. As tiring as it may be to pack up each Sunday after church all summer long, and head out to serve the community on the other side of town, we do it in hope. A concert, to us, is more than just a silly concert and a rummage sale is always something greater than it appears.

If you remember to pray for us, please do so. We are hopeful for what the Lord will accomplish here in Duluth, not only in the next week or two, but in the next generation or two. If free fish sandwiches in the 1st century was enough to build a church that would last for the next 2,000 years, pray that free brats might do the same for Duluth in 2019.

Recent Community Event; March 8, 2019
Cuckoo Bee’s show at RavenFed
Cuckoo Bee’s; March 8, 2019
“Sled-less Sledding” Feb. 17, 2019

March 10, 2019 Believers Church

Your personal identity shapes your life. Shaping your life based on another person’s identity or a false identity is a crime. In 2018 nearly 16 million Americans were victims of identity theft. It is a crime that is becoming more and more common as the years go by. As a result, the authorities are taking cases of identity theft more and more seriously. The penalties that are faced in this country for living out a false identity are high. Including severe fines and decades of imprisonment. The US government is doing all that they can to get people to live life as who they really are.

A Two-Sided Problem

Today the church is facing the same problem. Millions are trying to live their lives contrary to their identity. There are two different ways that this creates serious problems for the church. Many unbelievers, those with an identity that is not in Christ, who are not born again, try to live as though they are. They attempt to prove their identity as in Christ by any means necessary, but that is simply not the case. They hold out seemingly legitimate identification: IDs showing them as church members, letters and emails showing a connection with those who are in Christ, they may have passports stamped full with all the places they have gone for the cause of Christ, they even have bank statements showing their generosity…  But in the end they have not been born again, they do not have an identity as in Christ. They can show all the documentation they desire but it’s not enough because they don’t have a birth certificate. The second way the church sees this problem is with Christians, those who are legitimately born again but don’t live out that identity as they should. They have all the right paperwork declaring the truth of who they are, but none of the right actions.

Who are You?

What is your identity? Are you a child of God? Is your identity in Jesus or is your identity in something else? You should be whoever you are. If you are an unbeliever, don’t pretend to be a follower of Jesus. He isn’t fooled, no matter how much documentation you might provide. Continuing to cling to an identity of Christian when it is not true does no good, in fact, it will only do you harm. But, if you have been saved and now are a Christian, be one. Be one with all your thoughts, words, actions, desires, and pursuits, be a Christian with your character, be a Christian with all of your life. Let all of who you are be shaped by that identity.

Make the Reality Real

Over and over the Bible talks about how our actions are in relation to our standing in Christ. An example of this is found in 1 Corinthians 5:7 where Paul says, “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”. In the Bible yeast is a picture of sin. He is saying, “Jesus died as a sacrifice, and if you have put your faith in Him, He has already made you sinless, so now get rid of the sin.” God tells us that if your identity is a Christian there are several truths about who you really are. He tells us things that are already a presently held reality, but then also tells us to fight and strive for what He has already made us.  

As a Christian, we instantly become positionally holy, and yet we are told to kill sin, to strive for righteousness. (1 Cor. 5:7 Col. 3:12, 1 Pet 1:15) When you become a Christian you are the light of the world (Matt.5:14) therefore, “let your light shine” (Matt. 5:16). God has made wonderful truths a reality for us, we are to live in a way that those realities actually become real in our lives.

Christian, Be Yourself

This is by no means a call for you to be true to your heart, yourself, or to trust your gut. It is not a call to excuse yourself from striving or fighting because you are simply letting you be you. But if you are a Christian you are a child of the almighty God. That is your identity and that identity will change your life. Go and be who you are. Be holy and righteous, be bold and courageous, be meek and humble, be ambassadors for God’s kingdom. As God’s children, there is a lot that Jesus calls us to be and to do. Fulfill the destiny that is befitting of your identity.

How can we do this?

Becoming like Christ is not impossible. Growing more and more into the person God has made you to be can be a reality. However, you cannot do it by your own effort and work. If you try you will fail. No amount of study and no amount of time invested will be enough. You can only do this by union with Christ. Your identity comes from Him, your identity is in Him, and you can only live out that identity through Him. Jesus longs for your identity to be found in Him. That is why Paul said on Colossians 1:27 that “Christ in you is the hope of glory.” You cannot hope to accomplish this apart from Him.

There are serious consequences for those who practice identity theft today, but the consequences of spiritual identity theft are even farther reaching and will leave their mark for eternity. Be sure you have all the necessary forms of identification and do not be satisfied with anything less. If you do not have that birth certificate declaring you to be a child of God go to Him, seek Him with all you have. If you do, let nothing get in your way of becoming all of who you are identified to be.

March 7, 2019 Believers Church

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

God’s will is not a bullseye to hit, but a life to live

The gist of the book, Just Do Something, is that too many of us spend too much time trying to divine God’s will and too little time striving to obey the plain commands of Scripture. God’s will is not a corn maze or magic eight ball. His will is our sanctification. God promises to direct our steps all throughout life. He never promises to show us what each step is ahead of time. Too many of us are prone to passivity and indecision. Doing nothing feels more spiritual (and less risky) rather than doing something. We stumble around in chains of subjective impressions and wander here and there, and in and out of our parent’s basement.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. Too often, God’s people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships. They worry that they haven’t found God’s perfect will for their lives. Even worse, they do absolutely nothing. Stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting… waiting… waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction.

God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road of life.

He’s already revealed His plan for our lives:

to love Him with our whole hearts,

to obey His Word,

after that…to do what we like.

No need for hocus–pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged.

Just do something.

This book is Available at JFB Central Desk

or at these online stores below

Amazon
Christianbook
March 4, 2019 Believers Church

A Problem with Modern Believers

All too often we’re quick to answer this question “correctly” but live in many ways contrary to it. What I mean is, we have sound theology but faulty practice. Most of the time we feel our heart’s desire is to live according to God’s commands and desires… until we come in conflict with something we don’t like or understand. It’s then that we work within our own authority and not God’s. Matt Chandler takes us through this idea encouraging us to rethink our answer and to know that if something is amiss, it’s on our side of the relationship. When we can see the truth of this in ourselves, we need to learn to repent of it and re-engage God humbly.

“What you believe about God cannot diminish God. Do you hear me? If you want to say, “I don’t believe that about God,” that does not make God any less God. “I just don’t believe God would act like that.” Do you think all of a sudden God goes, “Gosh! Let me shrink a little bit.” What you ultimately believe about God has much for you but does not affect God’s God-ness in any way. That is laughable that you think what you think about God somehow defines God ultimately. God cannot be defined by you. God is God.” -Matt Chandler

Listen To/Download the Audio HERE