Diving Deeper: Multi-Generational Church
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Multi-Generational Church
The demographics at Cooks Hill when it comes to adults is a largely similar number in every age range, with the addition of a TON of kids. This means there’s a few areas of growth personally for us as followers of Jesus to function well within multi-generational relationships:
Swap the question, “what is in it for me?” to “am I building a faith that will outlast me?”
Lean into Grace.
Keep the Focus on Jesus.
Reflect on which of these is the hardest for you in this season of life, how is the Lord challenging you to grow in this season?
Diving Deeper: Unity vs Uniformity
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Unity vs Uniformity
In the church we tend to confuse preferences with doctrine, or more simply, we make something that isn’t an issue or moral or doctrinal stance more important than Jesus.
Today’s big idea was that: Unity in the Church, begins with Jesus and ends when something becomes more important than Jesus.
Ponder these questions:
Are there relationships where something has become more important than Jesus?
Have you prioritized something other than Jesus in your church experience?
What is one thing you can do today to get back to focusing on the main thing?
Diving Deeper: Belonging
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Belonging in the Church
There are 5 priorities that need to exist in every human and an organization for people to experience belonging. These are explored much deeper in the book Made to Belong by David Kim.
Priority - a few priority next steps may be:
Stay 5 minutes longer after church and look for someone to meet and get to know.
Protect your small group night on the calendar.
Grab a coffee with a budding friendship at the church, or a long time relationship that you haven’t prioritized in a while.
Chemistry:
Think about and make a list of your core values that you may need to share with your closer friends.
Make a list of your top relationships pet peeves.
Think about who you really “click” with, how can you foster that relationship.
Vulnerability:
Are there topics that feel “not allowed” to you, what are they, what do you need for those topics to come up?
What is something you need to bring out of hiding?
Do you have a good understanding of the difference between recklessness and vulnerability?
Empathy:
Ask someone to rate your listening skills, 1 out of 10.
Who do you know in your circle of belonging that needs your empathy?
Accountability:
Is there an area of your life that you’re not letting anyone hold you to the way of Jesus?
Have you practice giving them permission to hold you accountable and getting permission before holding someone accountable?
Diving Deeper: Authentic Relationships
Sermon Series practical application, action steps, evaluations and more.
Authentic Relationships
The Dunbar Number talks about 4 layers of community needed for someone to thrive in their life and in discipleship.
The Inner Circle - This is 1-5 people who know you deeply. They know the ‘real’ you, and are your closest people, maybe a life-long friend, a spouse, a new deep connection (sociologist say it takes almost 200 hours to turn an acquaintance into a close friend).
The Kin - This group is around 15 people and are the people you do life with. The birthday parties, the trips to the pumpkin patch, the small group, the ‘do life together’ group.
The Village - this is a much larger number of around 150 people. A resource village in some ways, people who can point you in the right direction for a new doctor, people who may show up to bring a meal in a crisis, someone who helps clean up after a flood, etc. These are not necessarily people you know well, but you likely know their name and about them, and vice versa.
The Tribe - this is the group of people well over 150 that you’re connected to as a follower of Jesus through the Church, people you share a common value with, but don’t necessarily know them.
What is your next step?
Join a small discipleship group at Cooks Hill to begin to build your Inner Circle and experience spiritual formation and deeper relationships
Ask a friend out to coffee that you have relationship with, but have lost connection due to time or prioritization
Join a group to share life with (the Kin)
Commit to building the village with serving on Sundays and committing to regularly showing up and investing at church.