Growth

Growth is never easy…

‘It takes a village to raise a child’ –  is the old African Proverb, that is a lot of infrastructure and support for just one child. If we are going to grow into the Child of God that He is calling us to be, then we are not going to be able to do it alone in isolation. It really does and the whole village that you and I have around us is going to determine many things for us. Those closest to us have VIP passes to our lives, are they are often there because of blood. They may be cheering us on and creating opportunities for growth or revelling in our failures.

Ekklesia

Church – Ekklesia in the greek, means a group called out together for a purpose. At CityHill we believe God is calling us out together to grow. It takes all of us to help every single one of us to grow into who we are called to be. If you are at CityHill it is not by chance, it is because God is placing people around you to help you run the race more effectively. He also has placed you here as a missing piece to complete everyone else. So just know, you being there on a Sunday matters, it really does.

We are not here to come to church with the sole gain of what I will get out of it, it is a two-way street, we need to come expecting to receive but also to give. Waking up in the morning knowing someone is coming today that needs what I bring to the table is such a beautiful thing. We have a tendency to downplay who we are, what we actually bring to the collective. Or we believe our own hype and that we are the bee’s knees.

God does not want us to full of ourselves, but He does want us to believe in the incredible worth each of us has. That can be found in Him and in others. That is why Church matters, that’s why CityHill matters so much to me. IT is why YOU matter so much to me, to US.

When you are not there on Sunday, it isn’t a number that is missing, we are missing a chance to grow as individuals and a collective together.

1st Half

That is why the first half of our meetings is around pasties and coffee/tea. It is to create the space for love, relationship and growth. In today’s world we are hyper-connected, never before have we needed more to be coming together, physically spending time in proximity to other people. Talking with one another, hearing the person in front of us and being accepted. This is a sacred space of worship and growth.

Genesis 28:16 “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Sometimes we are asleep, unaware of God being in a place. What we deem as spiritual in a service is not always the place where God is. We like hype moments, smoke machines, keys being played and God being called GAWD. Then and only then is God in this place. It is time for us to wake up from our slumber. God is in this place, space we have intentionally created for Him to work His wonders. Everything is spiritual. Jacob looked in his brother’s face and saw the face of God. Oh, that you and I would turn up each and every Sunday ready to see the face of God in every person, especially first-time guests. Then, and only then will we of known that we have grown.

Growth…

 
This is growth, this is what Jesus is all about. He is all about that growth, no self.

Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God ra thing to be grasped, but semptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by vbecoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus bevery knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and devery tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.