Recruitment

"Sometimes the world recruits people from the Church better than we recruit people from the world." - Douglas Wilson

Let us be in the world but not of it. Let us love Jesus more than the world so that we might love others more than they love us.

Let us be in prayer for our friends to know Christ. Let us ask them whether they know him and let us spur one another on to do so. Let us recruit people with kindness, love and generosity. Let us trust Christ and live in obedience to his mission for his honor and our deep joy.

Really...can you live without the church?

“I know there are some who say, ‘Well, I have given myself to the Lord, but I do not intend to give myself to any church. ’Now, why not? ‘Because I can be a Christian without it.’ Are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord’s commands as by being obedient?... I do not believe that you are answering your purpose. You are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the injury you do.” —Charles Spurgeon

Study Guide Week One - The Bride of Christ

Click to Download this weeks Home Group Study Guide in PDF Format

*This study guide is the companion to the book Stop Dating the Church, which we are all reading in our Home Groups this month. This lesson corresponds to chapter 1 & 2 from the book. You will need to read to answer the questions. We would encourage you to spend time in study and prayer as you do these lessons and come prepared to participate in community.

Recommended Reading- Stop Dating the Church

Ever wonder about the purpose and your role in the church? Have you ever considered how Jesus sees his church? How do your views flow with his?
Joshua Harris has written a great little book titled "Stop Dating The Church".

Mystery is using this book in our home groups during the month of February.
I would encourage everyone who has ever even thought about church to pick it up and give it a read. It is a very insightful, well thought out and easy to read. It is short, but very full of practical thoughts about the Bride of Christ and our commitment to her.
We live in a day and age full of confusion and delusion about the church. I think we owe Jesus and ourselves a little extended thinking about the church (considering that he thought so importantly of it to give his life for Her).

Join us in reading "Stop Dating the Church" this month. Sing up for a Home Group and enjoy the experience in Community with others. You can get a discounted copy of the book through your Home Group or you can pick up a copy on Sunday night at our Service.

I consider the church "the Dearest Place on Earth" - Charles Spurgeon

HEY LADIES- TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT

No Perfect Church, Only a Perfect Christ

"The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved his church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in his church than I can; and I have equal confidence that he sees no fault at all. Because he covers her faults with his own love—that love which covers a multitude of sins; and he removes all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away all the transgressions of his people." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

HOME GROUPS START BACK THIS WEEK

Just a quick Reminder:

Home groups begin this week at Mystery. Are you signed up? You should be. One of our Values as a church is Community and a Home Group is the best place to find open, honest and intimate community as a growing church.

Check out Mysterychurch.com and look under gatherings/home groups for times and locations of a home near you. We currently have SIX locations around the Joplin mini-metro area. Log on and get connected today. Christianity is not a solo effort.

ToT TONIGHT

A New Culture pt. 1

Historian Rodney Stark says that early Christianity spread so rapidly because the love and service of Christians amidst urban problems was so striking. "To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as real hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachment. To cities filled with widows and orphans, Christianity offered a new and expanded sense of family… once Christianity did appear, its superior capacity for meeting human problems soon became evident and played a major role in its ultimate triumph. Christianity brought was not simply an urban movement, but a new culture.

Leaders Meeting Tonight at 7pm at First Pres. If you are leading an area of ministry you need to be at this first meeting of the year.

NEW YEAR SAME MISSION

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to reality. The Holidays are over. Kids are heading back to school and its time to hit the gym again.

It is also time to wrap our hearts and heads around the mission of planting a church in Joplin. (Hopefully this never stops). It is a great time to invite people to church, bring up Christ in our conversations and think through reconnecting relationships as we begin a new year. People are saying to themselves "I should get back to church" this month along with all the other things they mean to do. As followers of Jesus we have a tremendous opportunity to connect with people and encourage their journey toward Jesus.

This is the time we are all convincing ourselves we will get better this year. Your friends are no different. Let me spur you on to think missionally and in a cross centered manner as we begin a new year. Who is someone you need to reconnect with? Who is someone you could call, meet for lunch, or invite to church or home group? Who has God burdened you with? Who are you avoiding? ITs not just Sundays, the week is full of opportunities to start taking seriously the call of Christ and share God's love by serving others and spreading the gospel in the city. Begin praying for opportunities. Start acting in faith. Stop putting it off. Challenge yourself and challenge someone else to commit to community. Stick it out with them. Call them out. Listen to
their needs. Ask someone in Mystery to hold you accountable to inviting people, and living as missionaries.

I would like to challenge us all to make 1 connection a day in January with people. Follow up with at least 2 of those people each week. Share your life and invite at least one of them per week into the community of Mystery. This is not just inviting them to a service, but committing to them and asking them to commit to you intentionally over the next few months.

What would happen potentially to our church, the city, the kingdom and to your life if we committed to trusting the gospel, living by faith and living committed to the the truth of Jesus' commission to ALL of us?

We have been given such a tremendous opportunity to bring glory to God in Joplin, to find our courage in Jesus, our Joy in Jesus, and our satisfaction in Jesus as we trust him to change lives (beginning with yours) and build a church for the city.

You are loved. You are called. We must act together for his glory, fpr the good of the city and for our joy!

Your Pastor and Fellow Missionary,
Steev

Without Clear Understanding

“The gospel is not only the most important message in all of history; it is the
only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing
Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and
experiencing the joy of living by it.” —Jerry Bridges