Missional Community: Sunday Jan 9th

Every two weeks we gather as a growing community of like minded leaders to foster fellowship, mission and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We call this group of people a “Missional Community.” That is because we believe that God has called us to join him in His redemptive plan in our city.  Specifically we see know that our  mission is to establish a Gospel Centered, Missional church in North Phoenix that will reproduce other churches.

This Sunday from 3-5pm we you are invited to join us at Ryan and Leslie's apartment home for a study and discussion on "Looking to the Trinity for True Community." Please email Ryan for questions.

Details
Time 3-5pm
Location: North Phoenix
Child care provided! 

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Visiting Church Plant in North Phoenix

Imago Dei is not yet a church. We are a community of people on mission. (Candidates with Acts29) Our goal is to reach out to those in need and recruit other missionary minded leaders. (40 adults primarily stud dudes).

Part of our training involves attending other churches in our community. Being part of the Acts29 Network here in Phoenix has been real a blessing. With about 10 church plants in the city our team has been able to visit most of these church plants and gain a greater insight into what church planting looks like. This also has been a great opportunity to network as well.

We don't want to be strangers to the larger body of Christ in our city therefore we often visit churches outside of our networks. We are learners. We want to learn from the leaders that have gone before us. This Sunday we are visiting a prayer partner and friend at Hope Church. Pastor Paul is the Lead Pastor and will be preaching tomorrow. Usually after the service, we go out to eat and share what we learned and discovered. Each Sunday is an adventure. We invite you to join us any time. Keep posted on the blog to see where we will be next. See you soon.

Church Location: North Phoenix (Norterra High school)
Name: Hope Church
Service Time: 10:30 AM
Picture: The pic is not the church we are visiting


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Community Pastor: David Rice

David and Micah Rice moved down from Missoula, Montana in early November and are excited to be serving with Imago Dei. After meeting close to ten years ago serving in a ministry together they have loved working side by side in various ministries all over the country and on a short-term overseas missions trip. Married in 2007 they have spent the last 2 years in Montana where David worked into full-time staff with Outdoorsmen Church. In that time he had the privilege to be licensed as a minister of the gospel. Micah an RN, is taking a career break to settle and prepare for their first child due in early February.  Read more about them at http://www.ricejourneys.com/

Season of Service: Arizona CityFest

We at imago dei believe that loving our neighbor is critically important. We are partnering with hundreds of churches and organizations to serve the city this year. We specifically are praying as to how we as a church will serve our city as a community of Christ followers at Imago dei. We want to see more people love Jesus and love their neighbor. We want to see the gospel both declared and demonstrated. That's why we at Imago Dei are very excited to partner with the many other churches in this season of service.

Our Missional Approach

Side Door Assimilation
If we as a church will own our vision statement: Love One. Love All. We won’t try to open the door of the church wider; rather we will open more doors in various communities around the city.

reaching a diverse people of various culture and various needs. This approach fosters flexibility, creativity and contextualization of the gospel, making the message more relevant within each cultural community. This idea is not new rather it is ancient. It is a basic missionary principle that our church holds to at the core of its philosophy. We believe that more and more people today want to experience or witness Christian community without having to join the public worship celebration first.

In light of our cultural experience, and a biblical mandate to make disciples, we as a people of God see value in extending the gospel in multiple avenues, empowering Christians to extend gospel within both small and medium sized communities throughout our city. We recognize that the traditional worship celebration may as well be the first step for the unchurched; therefore we will in time establish a weekly worship service on Sunday mornings for the purpose of Exaltation of Christ, through the preaching of his word, communion for believers, worship and baptism.

This organic approach allows our church body to engage their neighbors, at multiple levels. This model pushes our church leadership to focus on Leadership Development, Equipping Christians to Establish Communities.

This model is a missional model for churches. It’s not the model but a model. There are many other forms but we are choosing this way to keep or structures a little more decentralized than your typical church and more flexible to increase our member participation and upping the Ante on how to do church. We are empowering ordinary people to be pastors to their neighborhoods and spheres of influence. We are talking the church to our culture.

The advantages are many. To name one, this model increases access and opportunity for un-churched/un-believers to see and experience the gospel in the context of community. The un-churched are able to more quickly and organically assimilate into a community of believers, which in reality increases their likelihood of sticking around and growing in their faith.

Called by God? Part 2: Service

Just last week I gathered with several other young families and singles to further explore the potential of moving across the country to help start a new church in the Phoenix Valley. As a Pastor, I felt compelled to share with them what my mission Professor once shared with me when I was at a crossroads, of decision trying to determine my calling. He said, “Calling is more about a process then it is an event.”
So often we look for the magical and mystical experiential event to confirm our calling! Most are shocked to learn that the Bible doesn't emphasize this special, mystical calling to "The Ministry" or particular job or person.

Scripture References: Called to a Service:
•The word “Call” appears 296 times in scripture, twice it refers to missions/ministry
•Paul & Barnabas are set apart for ministry, made known by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2).
•Paul, Timothy and Luke receive a call to go to Macedonia (Acts 16:10).

The kind of "call"that is more often found in the Bible is more so an opportunity. In my study through scripture, I see people taking opportunities given to them, or responding to an invitation to help, or advance the Kingdom of God. Take for example, Jesus’ disciples. They were invited into something, by someone to serve. Or consider Nehemiah who received word about Jerusalem’s walls being broken down. He saw opportunity to serve and he took it! Or David who stepped up to slay a giant, when no one else would! Or what about Esther found her calling by seeing a need and decided to be brave and use her influence to save her people.

God’s call should often includes 5 things:
1.Community- a community can confirm ones gifts & new potential for a new ministry
2.Commission- Awareness- an understanding of the Great Commission Mt 28:19, Acts 1:8
3.Concern- concern for a city, people, or service should be in place
4.Conviction- in time ones concern should grow into a deeper conviction.

Worship Leaders for Imago Dei

Looks like we found some worship leaders! Not too long ago, I prayed that God would really show me that he was behind this church planting vision. I asked for Him to rain down his blessings by helping us find people that might want to team up with us! No kidding, that day I got a phone call about a young man that was wanting to move to Phoenix for music school and wanted to partner with a church to lead worship!!! Over the last several weeks I have met with Brad Byrd and his fiancee Samantha from Cabot, AR to explore this partnership. God has been good to us, bringing us awesome people from different places. Brad and Samantha are proven leaders that love jesus and love others. Imago Dei is off to a good start with them!

Vision: Love One. Love All

Bob Marley echoes what Jesus pointed out as the most two important truths in all of scripture. I am so refreshed with Jesus teaching. In fact, I believe we we need not only look to the pastoral epistles to form our ecclesiology, but the gospels as well!

At Imago Dei Community Church our vision comes from Jesus' simple and profound statement to "Love one and to Love All." He is the Head of the Church.

LOVE ONE.When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, He replied that God is one, and is to be loved with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. We believe this is the ultimate priority of every person, to discover and foster an exclusive love relationship with God. (Deut 6:5, Joshua 22.5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27)

LOVE ALL. Jesus continued his answer by saying that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor. We interpret this to mean everyone; that dignity and worth transcend beliefs, lifestyles and demographics. (Matthew 22:38, Luke 10:25-37)

Why name the church Imago Dei?

The Image of God in Hebrew (צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים‎; tzelem elohim) literally means "image of God", this often appears in Latin as Imago Dei. We named our church Imago Dei Community Church to reflect our theological convictions. All people have an inherit value, for which all people are designed to behold and reflect God’s glory. Yet in man’s sin, the image of God has been “Defaced, but not Erased.” Therefore all people deserve dignity and respect.

Implications for the Church & Culture

#1 Encourages the church to love our culture: Imago Dei reflects a theological framework that encourages diversity within the relationships of church and our culture, regardless, ethnicity, economics, education, political or religious views etc. If all people are made in his image, then all people deserve dignity and respect, do they not?

#2 Educates believers of their covenant relationship: Understanding that we are made in God’s image and invited into a covenant relationship with Him through his son, teaches us that we have significant worth as his child, his creation, the church.

#3 Empowers the church to be about the kingdom: As stated in Gen 1:26, Man was created to rule, and reign, declaring and demonstrating His righteousness throughout the earth. Understanding ones identity and role will lead to fulfilling the churches mission, to expand the kingdom for all people, in all places at all times.

This is why we named the church Imago Dei Community Church.