WHO IS GOD?
God made everything
Meet God in the world around you by seeing everything he has created. Through it all he shows us a little of himself. For instance, he speaks about his love for beauty and playfulness in the design of majestic mountains, refreshing forests, and lakes and oceans. God also speaks about his care by designing creation to provide food, shelter, and all kinds of things for his creatures. He even shows something of his majesty, even fierceness, and certainly his power in something like a thunderstorm. Or consider this: he has shown us about his love for people by creating them to be in relationship and in community with each other.
God is Love
At New Life we celebrate that this God is so generous that he has also told us something of himself in more detail through the words of the Bible. In fact, the Bible is the story of God. In it God shows up mostly as a God of love. Being the master of the universe he isn’t just after power, or lots of recognition. He is going for a relationship with every person in his creation so that they can live the way God designed life to be.
God Saves
There’s no way, with God being God, we can just hook up with him like he’s just a buddy of ours. In fact, left to ourselves, we wouldn’t really want God. Left to our selves we have this tendency to assert our own power and authority (usually either to control and manage everything around us or to permit ourselves to do “whatever we feel like”). And when we do that we mess up our lives, or at least our lives never achieve the blessing that God intended them to be. So God sent his Son Jesus to become one of us to save us from that tendency. In other words, God revealed himself unmistakably through Jesus so that we don’t miss out on a relationship with God.
God Awakens Us
If God showed up on earth through Jesus, he should have stuck around, you might think, so that it would be easier to believe in him. And that was exactly God’s idea in showing up also as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit keeps showing us God in the world and in our lives. Without the Spirit none of us would actually come to believe in God. At New Life we keep seeking the Spirit and keep following the Spirit in order to embrace more of God’s ways in all of our living.
What is Church?
People
It’s best to think mostly of people (as opposed to a building) when you talk about the church. The church is made up of people who make Jesus’ death and resurrection count for them, and who want Jesus to be the Savior and Master of their lives. The Bible talks about this sense of church as “the body of Christ.” Sometimes the church doesn’t much look like Jesus because the people in it still struggle with sin and brokenness. And as a people together “the body” gets distorted and bent out of shape because we behave badly. But the identity of the church depends on Jesus’ presence and power, not on people’s perfection.
A Building
A people seeking to live in community to care for each other and to celebrate what God means to them needs a place to do that. So in that sense church is a building. New Life Church on Delair Road in Abbotsford is the place where people can come together to be church.
A Light in the World
The church exists not just for itself, but to show others what God is doing in the world. So when people come together as New Life Church, anyone is invited and welcome. We are about connecting people to God. Some people are a long way from that connection, and others sometimes lose their way to that connection. New Life Church wants to come along side of anyone who is trying to figure out the way of connecting to God no matter where they are in that journey.
What is the Bible?
A book
You probably know the Bible as a book. And it’s a collection of writings from various ancient authors over a time span of some 2500 years or so. It contains a collection of writings that we call the Old Testament (all dating from 400 B.C. and earlier), and a collection of writings we call the New Testament (all dating from the first century A.D.).
A Holy Book
God guided human minds and hands to tell his story. While we sometimes treat the Bible as just a bunch of rules to restrict our living, it is really the telling of who God is. In that sense, the Bible carries God’s authority – or as we say – it is “God’s Word.” It’s his word on who owns the world (and everything in it), it’s his word on what he’s up to (establishing salvation), and it’s his word on how we live life to the fullest (holiness).
What is Prayer?
Connection
Talking to God is one way to establish a relationship with him, as you would want to do with any friend. If you’re just so glad to know God you can praise him. If you are frustrated in life you can share it with God. If you offend God or others you can tell him what you did and he can heal and forgive. There is no formula or special words that you have to use. You can talk to God about anything and in any way.
Dependence
Often our prayers are about asking God for things. That’s because we know we are completely dependent on him for everything. So you can ask him for courage in a situation or you can ask him to provide healing in sickness, or you can ask him to give you that job you really want. Prayer isn’t magic, so you can’t control God by using it. But he does have the power to do whatever you ask. Speaking of what God does for you, prayer is also a way to say thanks to God.
Strength and Empowerment
You can pray alone and sometimes that is very helpful for personal strength. The Bible recommends it so that we’re not tempted to show off what a great relationship we have with God. But you can also pray with other people because you want to pray with and for them. Or sometimes you feel too weak to pray, and then others will be there to hold you up.
God made everything
Meet God in the world around you by seeing everything he has created. Through it all he shows us a little of himself. For instance, he speaks about his love for beauty and playfulness in the design of majestic mountains, refreshing forests, and lakes and oceans. God also speaks about his care by designing creation to provide food, shelter, and all kinds of things for his creatures. He even shows something of his majesty, even fierceness, and certainly his power in something like a thunderstorm. Or consider this: he has shown us about his love for people by creating them to be in relationship and in community with each other.
God is Love
At New Life we celebrate that this God is so generous that he has also told us something of himself in more detail through the words of the Bible. In fact, the Bible is the story of God. In it God shows up mostly as a God of love. Being the master of the universe he isn’t just after power, or lots of recognition. He is going for a relationship with every person in his creation so that they can live the way God designed life to be.
God Saves
There’s no way, with God being God, we can just hook up with him like he’s just a buddy of ours. In fact, left to ourselves, we wouldn’t really want God. Left to our selves we have this tendency to assert our own power and authority (usually either to control and manage everything around us or to permit ourselves to do “whatever we feel like”). And when we do that we mess up our lives, or at least our lives never achieve the blessing that God intended them to be. So God sent his Son Jesus to become one of us to save us from that tendency. In other words, God revealed himself unmistakably through Jesus so that we don’t miss out on a relationship with God.
God Awakens Us
If God showed up on earth through Jesus, he should have stuck around, you might think, so that it would be easier to believe in him. And that was exactly God’s idea in showing up also as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit keeps showing us God in the world and in our lives. Without the Spirit none of us would actually come to believe in God. At New Life we keep seeking the Spirit and keep following the Spirit in order to embrace more of God’s ways in all of our living.
What is Church?
People
It’s best to think mostly of people (as opposed to a building) when you talk about the church. The church is made up of people who make Jesus’ death and resurrection count for them, and who want Jesus to be the Savior and Master of their lives. The Bible talks about this sense of church as “the body of Christ.” Sometimes the church doesn’t much look like Jesus because the people in it still struggle with sin and brokenness. And as a people together “the body” gets distorted and bent out of shape because we behave badly. But the identity of the church depends on Jesus’ presence and power, not on people’s perfection.
A Building
A people seeking to live in community to care for each other and to celebrate what God means to them needs a place to do that. So in that sense church is a building. New Life Church on Delair Road in Abbotsford is the place where people can come together to be church.
A Light in the World
The church exists not just for itself, but to show others what God is doing in the world. So when people come together as New Life Church, anyone is invited and welcome. We are about connecting people to God. Some people are a long way from that connection, and others sometimes lose their way to that connection. New Life Church wants to come along side of anyone who is trying to figure out the way of connecting to God no matter where they are in that journey.
What is the Bible?
A book
You probably know the Bible as a book. And it’s a collection of writings from various ancient authors over a time span of some 2500 years or so. It contains a collection of writings that we call the Old Testament (all dating from 400 B.C. and earlier), and a collection of writings we call the New Testament (all dating from the first century A.D.).
A Holy Book
God guided human minds and hands to tell his story. While we sometimes treat the Bible as just a bunch of rules to restrict our living, it is really the telling of who God is. In that sense, the Bible carries God’s authority – or as we say – it is “God’s Word.” It’s his word on who owns the world (and everything in it), it’s his word on what he’s up to (establishing salvation), and it’s his word on how we live life to the fullest (holiness).
What is Prayer?
Connection
Talking to God is one way to establish a relationship with him, as you would want to do with any friend. If you’re just so glad to know God you can praise him. If you are frustrated in life you can share it with God. If you offend God or others you can tell him what you did and he can heal and forgive. There is no formula or special words that you have to use. You can talk to God about anything and in any way.
Dependence
Often our prayers are about asking God for things. That’s because we know we are completely dependent on him for everything. So you can ask him for courage in a situation or you can ask him to provide healing in sickness, or you can ask him to give you that job you really want. Prayer isn’t magic, so you can’t control God by using it. But he does have the power to do whatever you ask. Speaking of what God does for you, prayer is also a way to say thanks to God.
Strength and Empowerment
You can pray alone and sometimes that is very helpful for personal strength. The Bible recommends it so that we’re not tempted to show off what a great relationship we have with God. But you can also pray with other people because you want to pray with and for them. Or sometimes you feel too weak to pray, and then others will be there to hold you up.
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