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Village Church at Midlothian

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VillageServe Updates

Jan 17

Posted by Nate in Community Outreach, Mission & Vision | 1 Comment

Hi Village Church Family,

Here is a quick update on a few VillageServe projects from the end of last year.

Christmas Packages for the Troops:

Back in November, the Village sent 15 boxes of care packages to Marines in Afghanistan. Along with these packages were notes of appreciate and support. One of the Marines who has corresponded with us as a result of the care packages is an agnostic who has been asking questions about faith. Please join us in praying for this Marine and all those who serve our country.

 

Food Drive:

Also in November, we added almost 1,000 lbs of food to Tomahawk Creek Middle School’s food drive. This food was used to re-stock the Chesterfield food banks during the holidays and provide some much-needed support for many families. The administration at Tomahawk Creek Middle sent us a wonderful card thanking us for being a great part of their community.

 

Nueva Esperanza Church Plant:

We’ve had the opportunity to continue to support and encourage the Gospel work of Fernando and Marcella Mangieri at the Iglesia Bautista Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) church plant. Fernando and Marcella minister to the Spanish speaking population in Chesterfield and their church has grown to over 100. This past December, Village took up an offering that in part enabled Nueva Esperanza to provide meals to many people in their community. A woman from the Village also organized a coat drive at her work and provided the coats to Nueva Esperanza.  With many people in their community working seasonal jobs, the meals and coats were much needed in the winter. By providing opportunities for the Mangieris and Nueva Esperanza to care for their community, we are helping to build the Kingdom as God grows their church plant.

Church Membership

Sep 24

Posted by Steve in Mission & Vision, Worship Experience | No Comments

Church membership can be one of the most confusing aspects inside of the life of a church.  At some places, it is nothing more than walking down an aisle and shaking a few hands.  After that, there is simply an invitation to a few business meetings, but no real life.  Some churches have a membership in the hundreds with only a handful of people actually accounted for.  Other churches require a seemingly intrusive account of every aspect of your life, right down to your preference of carpet color.

While these may represent a caricature of what actually takes place in most churches, there is a theme that many of us have seen and not quite understood about what it means to be a member of a church.  We have seen it be good, but usually seen it done bad.

Tomorrow at Village Church, we will tackle the missional environment of church membership.  Church membership is ultimately about the Gospel.  It offers us a way in which to outwardly express the work that Jesus is doing inwardly and identifies us as being a part of His body. Sure, you may think being a part of the universal, invisible Church is enough, but God has called us to build that Church.  How will we do that if we don’t identify with a local church, and then how are we tangibly building that church?

In church membership, we enter into a real life of discipleship where we know and are known by each other and enter into environments in which we are made to be disciples as we are making disciples.  Join us!

Village Church Worship Experience Sept 4th

Sep 4

Posted by James in Mission & Vision, Worship Sets | No Comments

This morning we started a new series called Missional Environments. We explored Matthew 28 and the great commission. As a church we want to be obedient to God to make disciples of Jesus. We should make the most of the Sunday morning service and leverage that time to reach our community with the gospel.

We sang these songs together:

You Alone Can Rescue- Matt Redman

All Creatures Of Our God And King- Francis of Assisi/David Crowder

Forever Reign- Kristian Stanfill

Marvelous Light (slow version)- Charlie Hall

Tear Down The Walls- Hillsong United

Filled With Your Glory- Starfield

 

““The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”- Matthew 13:44

Core Values, Part 3 – Redemption: Transformation

Mar 17

Posted by Nate in Mission & Vision | No Comments

We need to be redeemed. The offense of the Gospel is that we are not OK – we are dead in our sins and whether we know it or not we are choosing hell and completely hopeless on our own. But God purchased our redemption with the death of his son.

Unfortunately, this is where the Good News often gets left. But Jesus’ death AND resurrection does not only save us, it also changes us.  We have been brought from death to life and are now living for good works in the Gospel. (Eph. 2:1-10) We have been raised with Christ to new life, and are being renewed in the image of God. (Col. 3:1-10)

But here is the crucial part that we as the church must wrestle with. The Scriptures say that where there is no transformation, there is no redemption. Faith without works is dead. (Jam. 2:17; 26) It is not that our transformation gets us redemption. God’s redemption always causes transformation. The Bible over and over again identifies change as a sign that one is following Jesus for salvation. (John 14:12-14)

If we are healthy, thoughtful people we will feel the tension between the work God has done that we could never do, and the change that this work brings into our lives and even requires of us. While we were once living for our own vain pursuits, now we are living lives full of meaning and hope as we arrange everything around building God’s kingdom and seeing more people redeemed by Jesus. How amazing it is to see and celebrate the change that Jesus has brought to our lives! And yet we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil. 2:12-13) We know that our belief in Jesus, if it is real, must move us to action as we obey Jesus. (Heb. 3:12-4:2)

The core value of redemption means that as a church we both celebrate and expect change. All of the outward change does not happen overnight, but individually and corporately we are continually being changed to be more like Jesus.

In the next post we will look at what the transformed life looks like, as we move to our second core value – mission.


Core Values, Part 2 – Redemption: It Starts With Jesus

Core Values, Part 1 – Introduction

 

Core Values, Part 2 – Redemption: It Starts With Jesus

Mar 12

Posted by Nate in Mission & Vision | No Comments

Where you start is important. Our core values are not intended to be a comprehensive overview of all the teachings of Scripture. We are trying to create a framework for what the Bible says the local church is to be about.

To that end, we start with the redemption found in Jesus, because here we find our life and the life of the Church. The Bible contains the story of God’s redemption. From creation to the fall and then the nation of Israel, God has been working to bring himself glory by redeeming men and women to himself through the cross of Christ. On the cross Jesus took upon himself our sin against a holy God. God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21) Then, resurrecting from the dead, Jesus defeated sin and secured new life for those who love and follow him. This new life in the resurrection of Jesus is the life of the Church universal and the local church. (1 Cor. 15:20-28)

God has redeemed us for his glory, and he intends for the church to work towards the redemption of more people for his glory. The thing that brought us to life is the thing we now live for, because that is how God wants to be worshipped. (Luke 19:10; 1 Cor. 9:19-23)

As our first core value, everything we do as a church should have as its end goal the redemption of people who God loves. Sacrificing and giving of ourselves in order to point others to Jesus and gather more worshippers of Jesus is our worship. (Romans 12:1) This value keeps our church focused. It reminds us that behind all that we do, both as a group of believers and individually as the Church scattered, we are to be about the same redemption that brought us life.

There is another aspect to redemption that is very important, and that is that it changes us. We’ll look at that in part 3.


Core Values, Part 1 – Introduction

 

Core Values, Part 1 – Introduction

Mar 10

Posted by Nate in Mission & Vision | No Comments

If you were at our worship experience this past Sunday morning, you may have noticed the new banner as you enter the auditorium. Part of the banner includes our core values. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a few blog posts to talk about each of our core values and how they help us as a church to live for the mission of Jesus.

But first, why do we have core values? Aren’t they a bit gimmicky, and shouldn’t we just stick to preaching and teaching the Bible?

Things like core values, mission and vision statements, and mottos help us to remember and share what we’ve learned from God’s Word.  As we are learning from the current series in James, genuine Gospel faith always results in not only hearing the Word, but also doing it. As we ‘hear’ (or read) God’s word, we process what it says and then put that into action. Our core values help us do that, and they help us to answer the question, “How do we as the Church live out the mission of Jesus?”

The Bible has a lot to say on this topic, and our core values help us remember and teach these Biblical themes. If you’re new to the Village, I’d encourage you to check out the series CORE that we went through last spring. That series is a great introduction to the church and what we’re about.


Core Values, Part 2 – Redemption: It Starts With Jesus