“God’s Cunning Plan”
David MacGregor
22nd September 2013
City Campus
Church is God’s Cunning Plan
• The Church is God’s gift to the city.
• When people are in crisis, they come to us… earthquakes, funerals, tragedies, etc.
• Instead of being critical of the church, let’s come and help make it better.
• God says “I love my Church. She is my bride”.
• The Church is made up of very ordinary people, from all extremes of society.
• We all come together because we love Jesus!
Agape
• Agape: Greek word for selfless love, giving love, sacrificial love.
• John 13: 34-35 (uses “agape”)
• This is how God wants us to show our love for Him, by loving people.
• 1 John 4: 11
The Early Church
• The early Church had an amazing love for one another.
• They were family… they called each other “brothers and sisters”.
• Early Church father, Tertullian, AD 197: “But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead
many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for they themselves
are animated by mutual hatred. See, they say about us, how they are ready even to die for one
another, for they themselves would sooner kill.”
• The world was amazed at the love they had for each other!
• The early Church lived their lives together, sharing everything.
Acts 2: 44-47
• Koinonia: Greek word for sharing, fellowship, unity, partnership, a brotherhood.
• Fellowship is something much deeper than friendship.
• Early Christians changed the whole culture of the cities they lived in... looking after the poor, the
sick, setting up social welfare systems, caring for widows, foreigners, new comers.
• “To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as
hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for
attachment. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded
sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social
solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fire, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective
nursing services... For what they brought was not simply an urban movement, but a new
culture.” Rodney Stark “The Rise of Christianity”
Home Groups
• The strength of the early Church was constantly meeting in each other’s homes – home groups,
“doing life” together.
• Sunday church is not made to meet all your needs – it’s a celebration.
• Real growth happens in Lifegroups (home groups).
• It’s about what you can learn and give, not just what you can get.
• In our western society, we have lost a lot of “koinonia”.
• The mission of the church is to create community and invite people into that.
• This Church grew out of a Lifegroup… they can change the culture of an entire city!
Matthew 18: 20
UP, IN and OUT Questions
UP — Do I help build the Church up, or is it easier to be critical?
IN — How can we build more “koinonia” (togetherness) in our Lifegroup?
OUT — How can we demonstrate “agape”?