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Good afternoon, everybody. 12:15 in the house!
Yeah yeah, it's great to have you guys here. Um...
I'm struggling. Just gotta be real. I'm struggling' today.
I'm sick. Been sick all week. Was getting better, but uh,
I enjoy preaching three times in a row, but not when I'm sick, so...
I used to preach at a black church in Boston, and
at the black church in Boston, they used to talk back to me when I preach, and help draw the sermon out of me.
So, I would appreciate it if you guys would help draw the message out today.
Alright, so I don't need to be the only one talking.
My voice is about to go as well, alright? [Amen!]
Amen. Thank you, Samantha- uh, Katrina, thank you.
Alright, so a couple things before get in:
When you guys came in, did you guys get an annual report? Where there any left?
Hold one up if you got one.
Okay, great, most of you. If you didn't have one,
If you didn't get one, or you're listening online,
We're putting it on our website, as well. We're really excited about this.
This is our first annual report we've ever done.
And it really just highlights what God has done in and through you guys over this last year.
It goes through our core values of worship, community, and justice.
So I encourage you guys to take a look at it. One of the things I say in here,
is to remember as you look at these numbers and things, is to remember that
every number has a name,
every name has a story, and every story matters to God.
And so these aren't just numbers. These are people's lives.
So we celebrate what God has been doing. Um,
One of the things I say in the letter at the very beginning, is that the local church,
when it does its job, is the most strategic way to advance
the mission of God in the world. Now, we know
the kingdom of God - the mission of God - is much bigger than just the church. Right?
So for a long time people thought, "Hey, if I get people into the church,
then that's all I need to do." And just get more more involved in the church. And grow the
church bigger bigger bigger bigger, and who cares about everything out there.
Like, "Let's just be a lifeboat," but we really understand that
the local church is actually to catalyze the mission of God - the kingdom of God - in the world
but the local church is the most strategic-- [amen!] thank you.
The local church is the most strategic way to help advance that because there's no other
organizational on the face of this earth that has the eternal mission
that the local church has. There's no other organization on the face of this earth
that has the commitment to discipleship in developing
leaders that the local church
should have. I spent my whole life dreaming about -
When God called me to ministry, I thought, okay how could I hope the most people?
I thought leading a big NGO. So, might my goal was to, uh,
be president of World Vision one day. So I went to grad school for it, and all this stuff,
and what I began to realize is that World Vision exist because the local church exists.
That the reason people give money and the reason that World Vision
is actually able to distribute
stuff to the people all across the world is because the local church is there
and when hospitals are gone, and schools are gone, and disaster strikes, the church
still stands. In fact the church still sometimes meet under trees.
And so, there's a power to the local church
and I'm excited to be a part of that with you guys.
Because, ya know, our job, when we do it well is not only to invite you into relationship with
Christ, into community, but to help launch you
to be on mission with God in your workplace:
on the hill, or on K street, or in your classroom, or in your
you know, wherever - your business that you're starting.
And so that's why I'm excited about the local church.
And excited for what God is gonna do, um, through us in the years ahead.
I, you know, sometimes when I speak at conferences,
sometimes when I speak at conferences, or I'm coaching other church planters,
some people say, you know, "So what is the, what is the secret,"
"What is the secret what you guys do?"
"Like, why is it -- you know, it's the urban center.
Churches, like that don't grow very fast."
"What is the secret?" I'm like, "You wanna know the secret?"
"We're a bunch of broke down, messed up,
struggling people. And because we admit that,
like God's power, and God's presence
has a way of resting on our church, and our community.
And so we really can't take any credit. It's not, there's not like, this strategy that's behind it.
It's really just sayin, "Man,
We need God in our life, you know. And so, when we,
When we organize our worship gathering and small groups, yeah we want to do them well, unto the Lord.
But like, we're not here trying to impress anybody.
Like right? We're trying to make sure we don't distract anybody,
but we're not trying to impress anybody.
If anything, I want you to be able to go away being like, "I experienced the presence of God,
and I was able to take a next step in my faith, whether you're --
whether you never been to church before. Uh, it was your first time coming, or you're
exploring christian faith, or you've been walking with God for a number years and you just
moved to DC and are trying to find a church.
I pray that you get challenged by the environment that God is creating here.
Um, so, our annual report is sorta like the highlight reel, right?
Like, you don't - you just share all the good stuff in there,
So, I thought this morning - Our theme this morning is, "Leading Through Weakness."
And I think it's kind of fitting that I, like, I'm really sick this morning,
trying to lead through weakness. Uh, so I tried to get out of it this morning, but
it was like, "No, okay, you're weak. That's a part of the illustration here."
Um, but what I wanted to do is go behind the scenes. Not the highlight reel, but
behind the scenes
and share with you guys about the beginning of The District Church.
And about how this church was born, not in strength,
not in competence, or a lot of finances, but it was uh,
born in a lot of brokenness. So, Amy and I are just gonna share a little of our story.
So I wanna invite you to come up here with me. Lemme get these for you.
And so we're gonna have a conversation. Now I'm gonna mostly interview Amy,
because, those of you guys that know us
know that, um, when you talk to me
you get, like, where we wanna go.
But when you talk to Amy, you get, like, the way we really are right now. [laughter] Right?
So, I'm like the visionary,
the optimist. Like, oh my gosh, you know I'll speak it before it comes into existence.
And um, so you get more real talk with her. So, that's why I figure
uh, it makes me uncomfortable, but hopefully it will help
reinforce our message this morning.
So, um. Amy, take us back to 2009, when we were wrestling with whether
to stay in DC, whether to plant a church here, or somewhere else.
And talk to us about what was going on in our hearts and minds
in that season in life. Amy: Alright. Well, so, it's 2009, and I'm a newish mom.
Elijah is probably about eight months old at this point.
And, um, Aaron was traveling a lot for his job.
I hated living in the city. I didn't love DC at all.
Um, we didn't have a lot of community. It was a really hard place to live.
and he's traveling luck for his job, and one of his, um,
On one of his, I guess, trips
he invited Elijah and I to go along.
And here we are sitting on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport, and I am so excited
to get out of the city. I cannot wait to leave.
We're just going to Texas, and I'm not even that crazy about Texas,
but it's better than DC in this moment, you know? I'm just ready to get outta the city.
So we leave, and it's great. We were gone for like five days.
And then we have to come back. And, every time we would leave the city and come back,
it was like dread and anxiety would just come over me.
Almost like a spiritual thing going on or something.
Um. But it was just a really hard place to be. Um, but,
We had bought a house here. The market had crashed. There's no way we could sell our house,
even if we wanted to leave. And we had no idea where we would go if we did leave, so, here we were.
Aaron: One of the things I remember, as it relates to
to DC, uh, was - We had started a ministry, a church, among the poor in Boston,
Um, we had done that for five years. And so we knew that
whatever we started, whether it was in DC or somewhere else, had to be good news to the poor.
But the reality, when we looked out at DC,
is that, like we knew the disparity in DC was very great.
The most educated city in the country, some of the worst performing public schools,
with the wealthiest metropolitan areas,
some of the highest concentrations the poverty in DC.
And it's like, wow, if you're committed to really bridging the gap,
like, there's probably some easier places to do that.
And us being aware of our race, the fact that we're white, in Boston
- some of you - anybody from boston here? Or New England? Okay.
So, yeah, we lived in Southie a lot of the time.
And it's like the old Irish Catholic neighborhood. And so it's like you could be white and
still be like blue-collar, and like have street cred. [laughter]
Like, and so, but in DC, like, I'm sure there's definitely exceptions, but in DC
if you're white, you're educated and upwardly mobile.
And so, it's harder to, like, bridge some of the -- and so, we're just aware of that, right?
And um, so we didn't really start from this place of like, Amy --
I didn't mind DC, I was like, "This is fine." You know, I didn't like love DC, but I didn't mind it.
But I knew, given our calling, that DC might have been, it would be a challenging place to really do ministry.
And so it's a real testimony, many years later, to have a heart for the city.
I mean it's like, we put an event on "DC 127" called Foster The City.
You just look at the the front of the annual report: "We exist for Christ and the renewal of our city."
You know? And it's just a great testimony that, when God breaks your heart
for the things that break his heart, like, you can't get away from it.
You begin the love the things that God loves, and um,
Do you have anything else to say on that?
Amy: Well, I would just say that, you know. We knew, that whatever church we started,
we needed to be a church that was good news to the poor.
And you know, our church is not perfect, but I feel like we do a pretty good job of that.
Um, in a lot of different expressions of that, but I was just really
curious how God was gonna do that through us in this city.
And I feel like he's done a really amazing work, and I'm just thankful for that.
Aaron: I forgot to say when I first came up here, but
in the first service, we had the CEO and President of Latin American Youth Center here this morning.
I think I actually might have a picture of that, right? Well maybe not. We have the logo.
But uh, Laurie Kaplan,
who was one time named washingtonian of the year
was here, and we gave five-thousand dollars to their foster care work that they're doing here.
They actually own several buildings on the street.
And she told the story of how Latin American Youth Center actually started in this building.
This was the old presbyterian church,
the presbytery here let them rent it for like a dollar a year.
And it was like community center, and um,
Anyways, just an amazing kinda history and story. And so it's so great to be
a part of what God's doing in the city.
And join how God's already at work.
We gave five-thousand dollars to the Homeless Playtime Project this morning, as well,
which is a ministry at DC General Hospital as well as in Columbia Heights
that many of you you serve at.
Um, and so it's just great to be helping cultivate the renewal of our city.
And you guys are a huge part of that.
Um, alright, let's shift gears a little bit, and talk about marriage and family.
A little real talk.
Um, so, Amy, tell us. When we were starting the church,
What was going on in our marriage, and in our family life?
Amy: Hmmm, alrighty. So, again. I was a new mom, and Aaron was traveling a whole lot.
Um, and we didn't have a lot of community here, so.
When you're a new mom it's kind of isolating. Um, not always, but I think
generally a lot of moms feel a little bit isolated
because you're attached to this person. If not physically, like constantly. All the time.
And it's just a hard place to be. And when you don't have family around,
or don't have a strong church community,
It was really hard. Um,
Aaron was constantly on the road. And one of the things that I say about our life,
is that ministry is kind of our only hobby.
Um, he's a sports freak, and I'm kinda like the arts and entertainment, right?
So we did we don't overlap in our hobbies other than doing ministry together.
And we weren't doing ministry together. He was doing this really cool job.
And I was staying home at home with Elijah. So he would call, and he was like,
"Oh, guess who I met today!" And, "Guess what I'm doing today!"
And I was like, "I just change a poopy diaper." That's what I'm doing. [laughter]
And so, knowing that God definitely birthed a calling in my heart and in my life,
Um, early on. And you know, when we met and got married,
I had a seminary education. I was doing ministry. He was practically homeless.
So, like, there was this disparity already. And I was like, "Dude, this is not working out for me."
Um, so realizing that we needed to come together,
That was a -- one note that we needed to make in terms of doing something different.
Um, the other thing:
because of all this separation, or just disconnection in our marriage,
um, and in our life and relationship,
Um, our marriage was hard. Now, marriage is always hard. And if you're single,
And you've heard that before, you think that you're going to be the exception?
You won't be. It will be hard for you too.
Probably not in the same way that it's hard for us. But it will be hard for you, too.
Um, however, because I'm married to an idealist,
and I'm the realist, then I always sound like the one that's complaining.
I'm like, cup is always half-empty, Negative Nelly.
I'm always the one that points out what's wrong, right?
Um, so, Aaron and I had done some marriage counseling before,
but, he you know, whenever this all came about, he was like,
"Well, it sounds like you need to go to counseling." [Laughter]
"You need to work this out." Aaron: It's not good. Not good. [Laughter] Not good.
Amy: "Because you've got all the baggage. You've got all the issues going on."
And I was like, "Well, okay."
Aaron: Big mistake. [laughter] Amy: You know, I was willing to do whatever it took. So, uh, ya know.
So, I did. I went to see a counselor who we had seen together.
It was a Christian woman, um, walking with us at a different point.
And, in that time you know I'm sharing my side to the story.
My heart. My soul...
Number one rule in doing marriage counseling:
You should never go by yourself. You should always have your spouse!
Um, because she only heard my side of the story. And so what she said, like,
"You basically have two options:
You can either suck it up,
and deal with life as it is, or you can get a divorce."
And I was like, there's not a third option out there?!
Like, door number three, please, you know? It was just like, that can't be the only two options.
Um, so I left there, and I came home, and I told Aaron what she said.
And he's like, "Well, I guess you won't be going back to her."
Um, but then we realized that we both needed to be in the same room
in order to really work through things.
So we did Imago Therapy,
which is a kind of model of therapy that we really appreciate, and they had a
a weekend thing that we decided to go to.
And lo and behold, I am NOT the only one with baggage, apparently. [Laughter]
Now, I might have, like, a whole host of bags,
and Aaron might just have a couple. But he's got a couple.
And so he discovered those over this weekend. Aaron: Yeah, I mean I think just as a guy [laughter] yeah. Wow, yeah, she's right.
Aaron: I think as a guy, it's hard to admit that we have problems, that we have baggage,
There's a lot of shame related to that, which we try to cover up.
And we went to this retreat and started going to counseling,
and through that, I realised how insecure I was in our relationship.
And that the insecurity I had in our relationship actually had
more to do with the insecurity I had with my parents' relationship.
In always fearing that they were gonna get a divorce,
rather than anything that Amy was actually doing or saying.
And so, I was kinda like projecting that on her. And that wasn't fair to her.
And so that was a really important breakthrough,
um, that we had during that time.
And I think our marriage is stronger as a as a result of me owning my part of it,
rather than just saying, "Oh, that's stuff with your family.
Not, you know, my family - I grew up in a christian home
that like, my parents both served the Lord so everything was fine."
And it's like, nah, that's not true.
Amy: So, through that, we began to, like, rebuild trust and
had a stronger foundation from which we could start a church, and do things that, um
would be healthy and strong.
Um. You know we continue to see a counselor over the time, but especially in 2012, even
we continue to see a counselor.
Because what, what I have realized: I mean,
this is true for many pastors, but if our marriage is not strong and taken care of
that is one way that the enemy can destroy all of this, very quickly.
and so we recognize the importance of that
and the need for us to really
stay strong in our marriage, and really focus on that,
so that God can continue to do amazing things
through the whole church body.
Therefore, and you know, I'm a little more willing to do this
than maybe Aaron is, but when we struggle
in our marriage, which is going to happen forever -- you don't come to a place
where you're like, "Oh, well we finally arrived." Um, it's a constant thing.
Um, whenever we do struggle
then I will boast in those times of struggle and weakness.
Because I know in those moments that God is strong.
And just as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12
He says this: 12:7-10 it says,
"Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceded, I was given a thorn in my flesh,
a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it
from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses
so that Christ's power may rest upon me.
That is why for christ sake I delight in weaknesses,
in insults, in hardships, in persecutions,
in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong."
Now I don't know that I would go so far to say that our marriage is a thorn in our flesh.
But I will say that it's hard. Aaron: I'm the thorn in Amy's side. [laughter]
Amy: Maybe, maybe that's the way it is. [Laughter]
Amy: But it is hard. And so in those moments
where we struggle, when we have weakness, then I wanna share that because
it's through that, we can proclaim Christ's strength, and um, grace in the midst of that.
So in this last year we celebrated our tenth anniversary.
It was probably [applause], thank you!
It was probably one of the, the strongest years in our marriage that we've had.
But it comes through a lot of work, and we know we have a lot of work ahead of us.
Even, like, practical things. Like, every Monday night, we have a date night.
And some of you guys volunteer to watch our kids for us.
And just know that those of you that are doing that,
you're not only serving us and making sure that we have time to spend together,
but you're serving the church. Because you're allowing us to know that
as our marriage is healthy and strong, the church can be healthy and strong as well.
Aaron: You know, one of the things that, um, just on this topic of marriage and this Corinthians passage,
one of my mentors is a pastor in Ohio, told me one time, he said --
we were reflecting, I was sharing with him about us going to counseling in our marriage,
and he said to me, "You know, Aaron, there's like a lot of things in ministry that other pastors struggle with
that you don' struggle with, that you do naturally.
But your marriage might be one of those things that, like, you will always have to work hard at."
Like, it's not just gonna come naturally or easily.
And I think any human relationships you have to work hard at,
but I think there's just certain areas our life that
we have to commit extra time, extra work, to.
And I think the big breakthrough for me and our marriage was:
for so long, I had this vision -- because I'm like Type A, visionary perfectionist --
And it's like, I really wanted to have a perfect marriage. Like I really thought that, like,
we could just have it all, right? And and I think that the pressure I'd put on myself,
the pressure I'd put on Amy, uh
was in so many ways unreasonable. And so that if
Amy would bring something up to me about how maybe I was a pulling my load around the house
or I wasn't serving her in this way or that,
or I was staying too long at work, that my immediate response would be to be defensive.
To say, "Oh, no. You know, like. You don't understand this other part of the story.
Let me tell you this other part of the story that you don't understand,
and then when you understand that, then you're just going oh okay I'm sorry."
And how just foolish that is, right? [laughter] None of you have ever done that, right? Come on, now.
Um, rather than being like,
"No, like, I am a sinner. And I am desperate for the grace of God in my life."
And so, when anybody in the church, or anybody
in my family, my kids, or if Amy brings something to me, and says like,
"Hey Aaron, you didn't do as well as you probably could have, or should have."
That's an opportunity for me to grow in my relationship with Christ
for Christ's power to rest stronger on me. So rather than be defensive about it
I can begin to embrace those weaknesses and say,
"Wow, I don't have to have shame about that, or guilt about that, because of what Christ has done."
And so rather than trying to have a perfect marriage,
I can serve a perfect God, and invite him into my broken marriage.
I wanna, I didn't read this scripture in the other services, but I just wanna read
this in light of what we've been talking about.
Uh, 2 Corinthians 4. It's not on the screen, but it says,
"We have this treasure," meaning Christ, "in jars of clay," meaning our broken human bodies.
"to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us."
You know, it's like, if we just, if our marriage could just be on cruise control,
we wouldn't have the opportunity to points to Christ. It would just be our power.
Paul continues, "We're hard pressed on every side, but we're not crushed.
We're perplexed, but not in despair. We're persecuted, but not abandoned.
We're struck down, but not destroyed." Then listen to what he says in verse 10. I love this.
He says, "We always carry around in our body
the death of Jesus. So that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."
What an awesome opportunity we have to not
play around, and play religion, and act like we have it all together in our
relationships and our marriages and our work life, but just to say, "You know what?
Like, this is where I'm really struggling." And as a result
I think God's power can rest on us in even stronger ways.
Um, if we keep talking about our marriage and family, I'm going to have a vulnerability hangover tomorrow, so, [laughter]
Um, Amy loves this kinda stuff. For me it makes me more uncomfortable.
Um, so, let's shift gears a little bit
and, Amy, talk to us about kind of the church shopping culture that's prevalent in our world today,
that we really participated in for our first three years in DC.
Uh, tell us about that whole time.
Amy: So, like many of you, perhaps, we were looking, when we moved here
we were looking for a church, and so we did a little shopping.
And there's nothing really wrong with that.
But, it's the mindset that goes behind church shopping
um, can often be difficult and destructive, especially towards your relationship with God.
Um, but we were looking for that church, you know that perfect church that would
speak to us and allows us to connect with God in a way that we, um, wanted to connect with God.
And I can remember something as simple as like the food
at the potluck wasn't quite what I would wanna eat, so cross that one off the list! Ya know? [laughter]
Um, but realizing that, if we come to church
-- and we get it. We get the need -- There may be some of you, this is your first stop
shopping for church. Welcome. We welcome you.
Um, maybe you'll stay. We dunno.
Um, we get that need to go and have like a critical lens,
and see the music through the critical lens, the preaching through the critical lens,
hospitality, and all of that through a critical lens.
However, it often gets in the way of you connecting with God in a significant, powerful way.
Um. And so we recognize that about ourselves.
We're like, we just keep shopping, and going from church to church,
So, we were gonna stop doing that.
And we decided to stop complaining about the church,
and decided to start a church that we'd love to go to, and to be a part of.
We knew when it wouldn't be perfect, and it's not.
Um, but we thought, "It's better to
be a part of a church, and be doing church
and being the church, critiquing from the inside
instead of just from the outside. And so that has been our hope
in starting The District Church.
In being the church, instead of just critiquing the church.
Aaron: I remember, when we started worshiping at our home, in April 2010
and we basically invited anybody that wasn't already going to church,
because we met on Sunday morning, so you couldn't go to two, right?
So, um, we just began meeting there. There was only like a dozen of us the first few meetings.
And, um, most folks were just like us. They'd given up on the church.
Now, the problem with that is like
how do you start a college or a university with a bunch of college dropouts, right?
It doesn't really work well, right?
It's usually helpful to have been like involved and gone through all the steps.
But we just had such an awesome launch team.
Actually we have Erica is in the back. Raise your hand, Erica. Erica was on the launch team.
And then Justin. Where's Justin, if he's here today?
Alright, he's on the stairs. Justin was with us. And then we had, uh
Mike, and Brian, and Jordan, and Heather and Tim were all a part of that, as well.
But it was just an incredible time where we just said, "You know what?
Rather just kinda deconstructing everything all the time,
and, like trying to be brilliant from the sidelines, we're gonna be in the game.
And we're gonna critique by creatively reimagining and being the church.
And like, I just think the Lord has really kinda blessed that in spite of our cynicism.
Let's talk about the financial insecurity that described
kinda, the early days of the church.
And, uh, you know DC is an expensive place to live, as you all know.
So, it's a hard place to start a church, with a family.
Um, I had just quit my job. Um, you were staying home with Elijah...
and so we didn't have any other income. So, tell me how that was making you feel?
What was your whole perspective on the financial part of this journey?
Amy: Well, I was probably terrified in the moment. However, we had raised support before,
so I knew what that was like.
I didn't love doing that, but I knew it was like.
Um, we a great network of people that we reached out to,
and were very generous and supportive of what we were doing here.
But you know, we had a family now. We had a mortgage.
There's like a whole other level, in terms of what life was going to look like in raising support.
On top of this, Aaron's home church,
which we had hoped would really support us, withdrew support
because a few members within the church, um,
thought that we might have a political agenda
with our church, because of where we're located.
And also because of some of the things that were going on in the news at the time.
(Which I'm not going to get into. You can go research 2009, or whenever it was, 2010, I guess, and see what was going on in the news.)
But anyway, we felt like, "Oh my gosh, we're gonna be out on a limb,
kind of on our own, doing this thing."
And so yeah. That's what we were feeling.
Aaron: Yeah, so I mean. Um, I think that the financial thing for me,
with our home church, when they withdrew their support,
it was less about the finances. It was more about the shame that I felt.
The fact that it was my home church. And like, that's where I'd given my life to Christ.
Where I'd been baptized. Where I was called to ministry. Where Amy and I were both ordained
It was just like, to not have their blessing because a small vocal minority kinda overtook things.
It was really, it was really hard. And we're like, totally cool today.
It was just, like, a few months of, like, awkwardness.
But it was really an important developmental step for us as a church because we as the launch team realized,
We've gotta own this thing.
Like, "Though none go with me, I still will follow."
So that was a really important step for us. To say, you know, we are called to this,
like support, or no support. And that really relates to the theme I wanna talk about,
as we close, of just ownership.
One of the things that's really identified and characterized our church from the very beginning,
is just how you guys own the mission of the church.
Like, it's great when people come to newcomers,
and you know, before the end of the night, you're not saying,
"So, Aaron, how do things work at your church," you're saying, "So how do things work in OUR church."
And um, because that's really how you
build a church, and how you build a movement, and how you impact lives
is by being a part of the solution.
And, you know, Jeremiah 29 which is the scripture that
we heard read this morning that's the same scripture that we
read at our living room on the first Sunday that we gathered as a church.
And it really kinda I think it's so fitting to our vision today of just,
you know, it's like these exiles in Babylon, modern-day Iraq,
they didn't really wanna be there.
Like, you know, they'd been taken captive there. They were waiting to get back to Jerusalem, and rebuild the temple.
The were living under king Nebuchadnezzar's rule. And God speaks to Jeremiah
and says, you know, "Build roots where you are."
You know, he says, "Stay where you are. Seek the peace of the city.
Plant gardens. Get married. Have kids.
Buy houses. For when the city prospers, you two will prosper."
Kinda like a flip on the American dream, right?
The American dream, is you prosper, and then if you have any left over then you help other people prosper. Right?
And God just kinda flips that on its head.
And so that's always beensomething we've always
shared with folks at our church. Whether you're here for two months, two years, or twenty years,
make your time here count.
DC needs more residents who are committed to serving the city,
rather than people who move here to take from the city for their mission somewhere else.
And praise God that we're a capital city and there's a lot of incredible missions other place in the world.
That part of where God us is this city,
but that also comes with a responsibility to take care of those
in our own backyard.
And so, we talk about a lot about ownership. We don't talk about membership a lot of our church,
but ownership.
And really about taking next steps in your faith in Christ.
and in your journey. And it's kinda interesting that the
name in the school here is Next Step Public Charter School.
It was started as a charter school,
to help, primarily teenage mothers, get to their next step
in life, um, usually to a job or to college.
And the last year at our Advent offering, we were able to give Next Step twenty-thousand dollars
for their scholarship fund.
Now we have a tutoring group that meets here. And I just, as I was reflecting, I was like,
that's such a great name of a school for us to be in.
Because really our mission is to help
each of us take next steps in our faith with Christ, right?
If like there's a mission to everything that we do. Every time we leave here
we should be challenged to take a next step in our walk with Christ.
And so, just as we close I wanna invite you guys, whether you're
already a part of this church, and uh, this is all review to you,
or whether you're newer to the community, to just really invite you to be a full part, a full owner of this mission.
Because I believe that God, that we're just
God's just laying foundation for us, in terms of what's ahead.
So, just, not trying to oversimplify things, but just three different ways
of owning the mission:
The first thing is: surrendering
The second thing is: joining
and the third thing is: serving.
and really the basis of the Christian life is surrendering.
Of saying, "You know what? It's not through my effort. It's not through my strength.
It's not gonna be my hard work that I earned approval and love from God.
but God's love was earned through Christ's death on the cross for me,
and so I surrender and I receive the gift of salvation.
And that is what makes me a new creation and gives me a new start."
And that is -- even though we can hear that -- that's sometimes,
that's hard to really believe and live.
Because we've been so conditioned in human relationships, to earn love and earn approval.
And yet the the universal sign of surrender and other reasons we raise our
hands when we worship,
is just like this: is raising your hands. Universal sign of surrender.
And what you're saying to God is, "I'm not in charge in my life...
God would you take my heart; would you take my life; would you use me for your purposes,
and for your glory." And so maybe you're here today,
So you'd wanna say, "You know what?
I've never surrendered my heart and my life to Christ."
And you can do that today. The invitation is open for you to do that.
It's a challenge for all of us. Whether we've been walking with Christ a long time,
is daily, "I take up my cross daily," Paul says. To daily surrender our heart and our life to Jesus.
And the way we make, we go public with that is through baptism.
That's why in a couple weeks, we're gonna have a baptism during the services here.
Which is an opportunity to publicly declare before others your faith in Christ.
And so, if you've never had an opportunity to do that,
if you're walking with Christ many years, or maybe today you want to give your life to Christ,
we love to celebrate baptism with you.
And uh, one of the questions I often get from people, or the comments I often get
when I talk to folks about baptism,
is, "I, I'm just, I'm not sure if I'm ready yet."
And I totally understand where this question is coming from.
Because it actually demonstrates how serious you take these commitment.
Like, I love that folks in our church don't just
make a commitment haphazardly. But you like, really think through,
when you commit to something, you really follow through on it.
But I just wanna set the record straight, and be clear that, like
you don't come to Christ and be baptized once you've got your life together.
Like, it's not like, "Oh, I've got my life cleaned up. I've got all my answers,
all the questions answered. And now I'm going to give my life to Christ."
The only thing that you have to be ready to do is to surrender your heart.
That's the only thing Christ asks. Is just the surrendered heart.
And he will rebuild you and remake you into the person that you wanna be,
and that he wants you to be. The second thing: Join.
Joining with others. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone.
It's meant to be lived in community, which is why we gather here each Sunday.
Why it's important for us to get in the rhythm of worshipping together.
Not just when we feel like it.
But each week we do this, and we gather in small groups each.
You saw the annual report than 40 people in small groups at our church
And so that's a big practice of what we do. So maybe you want to be challenged
to worship regularly, or get involved in a small group. And finally: Serve.
To serve our church or serve the city. This is really our posture.
It's always been our church is to be a church for the city.
And um, we do this through our ministry teams, our small groups serve.
We have ministry initiatives like Parkview Kidzone and DC 127...
*** and AIDS groups, trafficking groups...
and so each of us are involved in different ways in serving.
Um, and so, our connection envelope, which we have every week, is a great way to signal,
Hey, I wanna own the mission further. And on the bottom of the front of the card card,
which we can put up here,
it says: "I'm interesting in my life to Christ; Be baptized; or join a small group; or join a ministry team."
And so maybe you wanna consider
making one of those commitments today, put it in the offering plate, and I'll follow-up
with you guys this week.
Um, or if you're already doing, if you are already living those things out,
maybe there's a prayer request that you'd like to write on the back.
Um, and we take that that very seriously.
And we can pray for you as an owner in this mission.
Let me just close by reading Jeremiah 29 as the band comes forward.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
Some of you have heard this verse, and memorized this verse growing up.
I think it's important for us to hear in light of the vision God has given us for this city.
In light of the vision of seeking the peace and prosperity of the city. It says this:
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord,
'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me.
and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.
I will be found by you,' declares the Lord. 'I will bring you back from captivity
and from exile.'" Let's pray together.
God, we thank you that we can boast in our weakness.
God, we thank you that we don't have to wear masks. We don't have to hide what's wrong with us.
I don't have to pretend this morning that I feel great.
That I don't have to act like my marriage is perfect or that
I feel completely competent as a person or as a leader.
Thank you God that we can just admit that we have this treasure called Jesus
in Jars of Clay.
To show that the surpassing glory is not from us, but from you.
God, I pray for us at The District Church, that we wouldn't be known by our hard work,
or by our education, or by the things that the world values, but
we would be known by our weakness.
And that by our weakness we would be known because, Christ, your power rests
stronger on us then maybe any other group of people because
we're not afraid to be broken. So, God, would you just strip away
any walls, or barriers that's keeping any one of us in this room this morning from
just fully surrendering and saying yes to you.
For some, I understand that that might be as it relates to their
walk with you, Jesus. We just come against anything that would
prevent anybody from saying yes to you.
For others it's a wall of "church." Saying, "You know what? I don't want to be a part of
a local church. That just seems like everything that's wrong with the world."
God, I pray that you would just break down any of those walls, and help us to be
the church that we dream of.
God, we give you thanks and honor for what you're doing in our hearts and our lives.
We pray that we're the kind of community that continues to take next steps.
That doesn't get complacent.
That doesn't put it on cruise control, but continues to go
as it says in scripture from glory to glory to glory.
And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.