We desire to be a missional community centered on the following things.

Word Focused

The Word of God is the foundation of all we will do.  Our desire is to know and understand His Word, and have it transform our lives as we deeply feel the truth of scripture.  Through a Word centered Gospel we desire to engage with one another, and speak Truth into each other’s lives. 

All Scripture is breathed out of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Word of God is described as “the sword of the spirit.”  Ephesians 6:17

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12

Being gospel-centered… means being word-centered because the gospel is a word.  The gospel is good news.  It is a message.  It is a message that can be summarized in simple gospel outlines or even the three-word confession, “Jesus is Lord.”  Yet it is also a message that fills the entire Bible.  It is the story of salvation from creation to new creation.  It is a word that has become incarnate in Jesus Christ.  It is this word that brings new life to people and shapes the life of the church.”

Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, pg. 32

Prayer

In our Gospel Communities we desire to pray for one another, the overall body of River City, and the global church of Jesus Christ.  Further, we desire to pray for our friends that don’t know Jesus, the city of Fargo, and that God’s name would be worshiped among all peoples.

As we pray, we believe God will convict hearts and lead us to repentance, resulting in the sanctification of Christ’s Church.

Care for one another

As we share our lives together, we yearn to see people engaged with one another through caring community.  With the result that fellow believers will be encouraged and see growth.  In addition, we hope to see people become attracted to the person of Jesus as they see His church love one another well.

“In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus tells his disciples they are to be ‘a city on a hill’, whose ‘good deeds’ are a light that will lead non-believers to praise the Father in Heaven.  To be a city means to be a community.  You can’t be a city on your own!  It is not enough for Christians to simply live good lives as individuals in society.  Why then does Jesus call a ‘city’ rather than just a ‘fellowship’?  Christians are called to be an alternate city within every earthly city, an alternate human culture within every earthly culture, to show how sex, money and power can be used in non-destructive ways and be re-shaped by the gospel.”

Cities and Salt by Timothy Keller, pg. 2

Serving Together 

In an effort to be a counter-cultural city within our city, our Gospel Communities will engage in efforts to improve the welfare of our larger city, Fargo.  Through these efforts our prayer is that people will see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven.

Matthew 5:16

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

1 Peter 2:12

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

James 1:27

What does this look like practically? Although we are flexible to change, so long as we maintain the vision stated above, our current thought for community groups looks like this:

1. Each week our Gospel Community will meet for approximately 2 hours.
2. We will meet in someone’s home and share a meal first. This will help to promote a caring community, and enable us to dig into each other’s lives.
3. After we finish the meal we will engage in life application of God’s Word.  We will follow the teaching that happens on Sunday at River City.  As we discuss different aspects of the teaching, and its application to our lives, we want to remain Word Centered.
4. During our time of study we desire to incorporate prayer.  This may mean we simply pray at the end of our meeting.  Or if we are led by the Spirit to do so, we may immediately pray for one another’s needs as they arise.
5. We will serve the city every four weeks as a Gospel Community.  We will be on a rotation of three weeks in a home, studying God’s word and engaging with one another.  Then every fourth week we will serve Fargo as a Gospel Community.  As we serve Fargo our prayer is that each Gospel Community will have a rifle approach.  This means we will pray about a “group” within Fargo we desire to serve, and then every four weeks we serve the same group.  The hope is that as we serve the same people consistently, in the name of Jesus, we will begin to see them desire to know more about who Jesus is.

In the coming weeks we will be discussing Missional Communities as part of the core values series.  If you have further questions please contact us

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