Living in community in our modern culture isnt always comfortable or easy. Modern men, especially Americans, like their comfort. Individualism, as Dinesh DSouza describes it, it is the self-directed life wherein the individual is placed in the drivers seat of his own life
Whats more, as James Davison Hunter defines it, the individual is seen as the key actor in social change, and the change always moves from the individual to the family to the community. As we have become more individualistic, the changes we see in culture are based on what we believe will benefit us as individuals. But this is a false assumption just as much as believing that because it tastes good, you can live on Mountain Dew. In the end, it will prove unwise. What would life be like if comfort was a little lower on the list to make room for
community? The prospect of this notion chills us.
Yet community, of any depth, will require that comfort fall from her lofty throne and be replaced by something that can hold our fickle attention and move us toward a more transcendent motive for our decisions. Intentional community living can mean many things, but the common denominator is always the deferral of personal comforts for a goal or experience valued by the members. The more transcendent the motivation, the more willing we are to exchange comfort for it. Ecclesia Austin is a downtown Austin Church that is motivated to living in a community of people focused on the transcendent Gospel of Christ. The Gospel, carefully beheld will motivate individuals to be less self-centered. A non-denominational Austin church, Ecclesia, is centered on the gospel and the life and vision of Jesus for His body and the renewal of Austin, Texas.
The vision of Ecclesia Austin is to be a downtown Austin church that is a missional church, reaching out to the downtown area and the neighborhoods of Austin, Texas. Non-denominational churches are expressions of the love Jesus has for the city and builds a great city for all people through a gospel movement that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice and cultural renewal to Austin and the world. But how can a downtown Austin church reshape the habits of people so dramatically that the Gospels goals and direction can countermand our natural inclinations toward our own selfish interests? The key is the gospel itself. Unlike other religions and philosophies, the gospel is not advice on how to live your life to please God or to become a sort of god yourself. The Gospel isnt advice, its news. This news is Gods word that your faith in His sons substitutionary sacrifice makes you guiltless before God.
A proclamation cannot be executed instead; you can act in response to it. Therefore news is a pronouncement not counsel. Missional church, living as per the Gospel giving significance to God and others, is a realistic reaction to news that God still loves you despite your mistakes and sins. Ecclesia Austin from Austin downtown church intends to re-establish Gods love for the urban center. God loves cities and in Jeremiah 29:4-7 God says, 4\"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Looking after the benefit of a place requires you to be there. You need to take into account what the inhabitants of the city gain. This means that you need to embrace love more and sideline comfort. We as the messengers of God through downtown Austin church need to love and inhabit the city. This is still a working progress. There are many results of this already seen all over the city. You are welcome to come and spread the Gospel in the community and receive a change of thought.
Mark Michael is the author of this article on
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