A church in Hillsboro The Culture of our Community Reunion center A church in Hillsboro The Culture of our Community

Culture the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group.

Kingdom culture Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. James 3:17-18

attitudes & characteristics Identity Freedom Being not Doing Presence of God Supernatural Ministry of Holy Spirit Atmosphere of Trust

Reunion center culture Supernatural Experience and Knowledge Relationships motivated by love Five Fold Ministry Engaged Identity Equips Love Empowers God Moves

Our assignment Equip, Empower, and Love Each other into the assignments god has for each one of us.

The Wave is coming Honor each other Work hard at getting along The broken, wounded, lost, dismayed are coming Love Empowers us to rise above our mistakes and issues

The family of god The Culture of Reunion Center 4-17-16

God’s family 1. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe or race; kindred; lineage. Thus the Israelites were a branch of the family of Abraham; and the descendants of Reuben, of Manasseh, were called their families. The whole human race are the family of Adam, the human family. 2. A person or people related to one and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy.

How did we get here? Ephesians 2:19-22 msg That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

What does family look like? 1 Corn 12:25-26 msg The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

What does family look like? “Much like our natural families (whom we don’t get to choose), God often assigns people to be part of our spiritual family who, like Jacob, walk with a limp, so-to-speak, yet they still deserve to be loved. We work hard to try to understand these people although we sometimes don’t agree with their perspectives.” Kris Vallotton Bethel Leader This “Bethel” culture has attracted some of the most wonderful and extraordinary individuals on the planet. Of course, we have also managed to draw some very broken and/or strange people. It’s important to remember that there are some really weird and broken people mentioned in the Bible who God used powerfully. Unique guys like John the Baptist, Ezekiel and Hosea come to mind as well as messed up people like Rahab and Samson. Bethel has chosen to be a family, and as such we do our best to love people wherever they’re at in life, regardless of their character, doctrine, political views or philosophical persuasions.

What’s important to us Focus on presence, worship, Gods agenda Galatians 5:4-6 Openness, vulnerability, flexibility Galatians 6:1-3 Creating a Safe Place for Healing and Deliverance Loving each other with the truth Jude 1:22-23 Reaching out to the whole family of God Maturing in relationship with Him Walking out our assignments from God Gal 5:4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Gal 6:1-3 1-3Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. Jude 1:22-23 Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven. Galatians 5:25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Wisdom for what is ahead? Comfort Zone? New Normal? Issues, Mistakes, Messiness James 3:17-18 Heaven Touching Earth Matthew 6 New Assignments From God Romans 12:1-2 Richer Understanding of God James 1:12 Ja 3:17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. James 1:2 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Transformation and revival We have what it takes to live in His presence. We have what it takes live on earth and as in heaven. Are we ready to Bar B Que the sacred cows? We are being built up to be the Glorious Bride of Christ. Ja 3:17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. James 1:2 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.