Community

Nobody walks with Christ and walks alone. He is with you, but so is His people, the church. Jesus never intended for you to try to grow on your own. A strong fellowship with other Christians is essential to your spiritual health and growth. Not only do strong Christian friendships offer support, encouragement and accountability, they also offer a lot of fun. There is no doubt that those who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Suffering is the lot of the Christian. But that suffering comes at the hands of the flesh, the world and the devil. In a community that knows Christ together, and seeks his kingdom together, we find joy and comfort. The Christian life, though full of suffering, is not full of misery. It is the only life where true joy can be had. And we strive to encourage that wherever we can.

We foster that community in a number of ways.  We have occasional church luncheons after the worship service.  There are also smaller get-togethers that occur on a regular basis.  For instance, a couple of groups of ladies gets together weekly to pray. There are ladies Bible studies, too.  And we have a few small home fellowship groups that meet a couple of times each month.  The men get together, too, for Bible study and prayer at M.E.A.T. (Men Enthusiastic About Theology — I guess we really needed an acronym, but it stuck).  Living Bolder (our young adult group) helps college students and young professionals build and maintain kingdom-focussed friendships.  These are only some of the planned social events. We also have many other gatherings, planned, ad hoc, and unplanned.

We also get the children involved in building solid Christian friendships.  We have a youth group (Living Stones).  But we also occasionally put together some fun events for various Sunday School classes, or age-range oriented events for the kids.  Once in a while, we’ll also put together a family event, such as a ski trip.

Everyone seems to notice the welcoming ‘family feel’ of our church. And while we do try to encourage it, it just seems to come naturally at Living Hope. Come see for yourself. Come join the family!