God in the Unbelief

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Kristina Pansa.

Last year, I quit my job and entered nursing school. While there are many things I am excited about in my pending career and many things I am grateful for throughout this process (like having the option to quit my job and go to school full-time), it has also been an emotionally challenging and spiritually draining process.

The job I quit was something I stumbled into, when I was desperately in need of a job. But, I ended up being really good at it, and I found purpose in the work I was doing. It was engaging, challenging, and impactful to the world around me. When I quit, I left it behind. The first few months of nursing school were a combination of academic classes and practical learning. I learned that despite being 30, I apparently didn’t know how to make a bed. In my first patient’s room, it took me more than 5 minutes to move a table…that had wheels. I felt clumsy; out of my element. Suddenly, I wasn’t good at anything.

It was during this time that I realized how much value I placed on being good at things. And, while I had always considered myself up for a good challenge, I realized that by-in-large, the challenges I’ve selected for myself over the years were mostly things I would be good at on the first try---no one would ever see me fail. Even that last job I’d had: I could edit and proofread my work a hundred times before passing it along, ensuring no one saw the ugly first drafts.

In nursing, everything you do is supervised and critiqued. And shockingly, the first time you put on sterile gloves, or move a patient, or give medications, you probably aren’t going to get it right. Beyond that, there are a hundred non-procedural things you are supposed to remember. And you know how you get better at those things; at integrating classroom knowledge with practice? By trying, over and over and over and failing, publicly. I’ve jokingly told people who ask that nursing school is one big slice of ‘humble pie,’ but my laughter hides the truth: It sucks. Not school, not the job—that’s awesome. But the process: it sucks to be bad at something and to have your faults on display.

Sometimes I fall into the comparison trap-- If I look at my 30-year-old peers, many have graduate degrees; some are practicing doctors; some have been nurses for 10 years already. Some are lawyers; some have large families. So many days, I feel like a total failure-I’m still a student, not even proficient in basic nursing skills. Over the past 1.5 years, I have struggled to remember that my value is not in how well I perform academically or clinically. It’s not in what I’ve ever accomplished, or what I ever will accomplish. I can’t tell you how many days I’ve forgotten this.

Jesus reminds us over and over that we belong to Him. That our worth is found in Him. That our redemption is found in Him. He tells us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6); Paul reminds us that the cross was a bloody ordeal, offensive to Jews and Gentiles alike, but their salvation nonetheless: “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Corinthians 1:18, 22-25).

Through Jesus’ blood (read: not my best efforts at perfection), I am sanctified and claimed. Through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, I am spiritually renewed outside of my own effort. These are the truths I cling to in my moments of doubt and unbelief. Like the man who asked Jesus to heal his son of an unclean spirit, I pray: “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

God in the Seeking

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Greg Luna.

I have participated in worship services on and off throughout my life. However, as a child, it was obligatory because my father drove our family to church. As an adult, my “participation” was at best random. I confess the autonomy to make my own schedule that included sleeping in on Sunday mornings was a welcomed freedom that played a factor. 

Although my attendance was sporadic, I always contemplated God.  I wanted a better understanding and relationship with God.  God was present but remote.  There was more than a fair amount of questions and rationalization on my part about how I was living my life in accord with the teachings. I read the Bible independently and also read secular books on religion and Christianity but wanted a deeper understanding and better relationship with God. On one of my visits to church, the priest opened his sermon with two frank sentences:

“You chose to have your relationship with God. You define that relationship.”

Confronted with candid language, I acknowledged I was remiss despite my self-proclaimed interest.  The image of Michelangelo’s painting “Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel came to mind.  God is looking directly at Adam with his arm fully extended reaching towards Adam.  In the portrayal, Adam does not respond with the same outstretched arm.  He is indifferent.  Adam is reclined and aloof.  His arm is resting on his bent knee; a feeble effort.  His limp wrist demonstrates his lack luster attempt to meet the hand of God.  I thought: “Am I not guilty of the same?” 

I spent a good portion of my childhood asking questions about all kinds of things: Who is God; Why should we be glad Jesus died on the cross; Did he really die for us; What does [insert curse words here] mean? (They called Renee Bernard a certain name on the school bus one morning on the way to school.) To my father’s credit, he tirelessly entertained all of my questions. In doing so my father fostered in me a healthy curiosity and that it is good to ask questions. When confronted with the two-sentence introduction from the priest I realized I still had questions but stopped seeking answers.  The Apostle Thomas had doubts and asked questions.  Most poignantly, he doubted the resurrection.  He had to see and feel the wounds to believe.  Jesus welcomed those questions.  There are stories throughout the Bible that demonstrate Jesus not only embraced questions from honest seekers but elicited them.  For me, the significant lesson in the story about Thomas was when it was further explained to me: “Thomas’ faith was strengthened by asking those questions.” 

Was it random or God reaching?  I was at Bethany Roberts’ house for a Neighbor Game Night. It was a casual gathering of neighbors laughing and playing board games.  Through that, I met Maggie Lyon who invited me to Community Group.  I had hoped to find a Bible study group and the Cool Spring Community Group fit what I had hoped to find.  From that, I was invited and encouraged to attend City Church.  So here I am…

When City Church opens the service each Sunday by saying “We welcome the believers, the non-believers, and seekers …” that is me: a believer, a seeker.  I still have questions.  I still ask questions but I am also learning, and growing in faith with a better relationship with God and a better life.

God in the Absence

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Bethany Roberts.

We can all think about our younger selves and think about the life we dreamed we would have.  For some, this dream played out just as it was envisioned.  For others, what we thought our life would look like looks drastically different than the life we now have. My life is the latter, drastically different than what I dreamed or imagined.  

In many ways this is good.  I live in a city that is deeply broken with some of the most amazing people.  On my block alone there are 4 houses of people from City Church with many others within just a couple blocks. These people have been an enormous source of blessing, encouragement, and the best people to share a glass of wine late at night with.  However, there are other areas of my life that are difficult to reconcile with the dreams of my younger self.  I always imagined that I would be a wife and mother by this point in my life.  With each passing year, the ache and pain that comes with this absence deepens. And bitterness knocks at the door of my heart.  

If you take my personal circumstances away, there are some common emotions that are part of the human condition.  Emotions like longing, the withholding of something seemingly good, or the death of a dream and desire.  There’s a grief that accompanies this experience.  My struggle is not the absence of the family I dreamed I would have, my struggle is seeing God as good.   It’s the bitterness that knocks on my heart and the coveting of the circumstances of others that I struggle against.  I have found that there is little room for gratitude, joy, or faith when my heart is focused on what I do not have. When I look to the Scriptures I see that God is good, that he loves me endlessly, that His plan is perfect, and that He is not vindictive or cruel, but instead that He is a loving and gracious Father.  

Romans 8 is a chapter of God’s word that I cling to regularly.  One of the beautiful parts of this chapter is the description of the tension between our own desires and God’s plan.  It so strikingly points us to the hope of being made perfect with Jesus and our part in the grand tapestry of God’s plan.  When I look at my life as an individual experience with my own individual desires that must be fulfilled, it leaves me feeling very isolated and empty.  

Our lives don’t make sense on their own.  We must look at our lives relationally in the context of living in a community of believers, non-believers, seekers, and doubters.  A phrase I dislike is the one that says, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” God gives us more than we can handle every day.  What he wants us to do is lean into the pain and cling to Him.  He longs to provide comfort, the people to walk this life with us, and to provide for our every need.  There’s a line that comes from the song “Brokenness Aside” by All Sons and Daughters that hits me in that part of my heart &  impacts me so deeply:  

"Will your grace run out
If I let you down
'Cause all I know
Is how to run"

Oh! How often I run from God.  How often I willfully live in discontentedness because it feels better in that moment than seeking joy.  I am so incredibly thankful for a God that relentlessly pursues me to bring me to Him.

Romans 8: 18-27

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

God in the Ordinary

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Barb Duszak.

In late June, I was reading Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods and was struck by one thing in particular: when we have our eyes opened to our own idols, we must repent of our sin & rejoice in the Gospel.

Throughout the last season of my life, I have struggled with feeling purposeless. When I was a kid, I always imagined doing “great things” by the time I was 30: being known by others for my good works, intelligence, care, and compassion. I also thought I would have a husband and possibly a child or two. I wanted to be young, loved, and low-key famous.

I’m 29 and single. I have an enjoyable, unprestigious job, and I have been living in the same city for most of my life. Things are not as glamorous as expected. As I’ve grown up, fantasy became less realistic and desirable, but that standard still lingered in my head. Coupled with depression, my idol of perfection and greatness leaves me numb and paralyzed.

Throughout the spring and summer, I have often caught myself drifting and feeling like my life hasn’t amounted to much. Sometimes I feel too guilty to admit to feeling tired, stressed, sad, or used. Surely there are many who have it worse than me: the exhaustion and stress of the newly-promoted, the new parent, or the new homeowner. Why am I complaining? What right do I have when everyone else is growing their careers and families?

Luckily, my God is a God of hope and promise, who gives me ways out of my own pride and self-pity. I keep re-learning certain lessons throughout my life, and recently they came around again:

First, the comparison and denial of pain is futile. Additionally, no one’s pain negates someone else’s. While I may not have shared your experience, we can sympathize because of a shared emotion. Covering up my hurt from my community in Christ only caused more hurt. As I confessed my pride and envy to my community group two weeks ago, I was heartbroken by my own sin.

I realize that I am always ready to preach the first part of the Gospel to myself: I feel my brokenness and pride and know my need for a Savior. Tim Keller’s book reminded me to rejoice in God’s love for me as well. I had difficulty preaching the second part in that moment at community group. Once I got home, I turned to Psalm 139. It’s always been my fallback scripture when I am feeling low, and I was humbled by flipping to it that evening:

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit
   Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
   If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
   and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
   you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

Even here, in this dark place of sin that I had been blind to, God had been as near as ever. I easily get swept in wanting to be known, chosen, and loved, and all of that yearning is put to rest when I remember how accepted I am in Christ. God has known, chosen, and loved me; He has never stepped away.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

Instead of fighting to keep this perspective, I am retreating to prayer and confession instead of waging my own mental battle. I am grateful for the forgiveness and connectedness my God gives and that reassurance and joy that He restores.

Living Redemptively in the Everyday Stuff of Life

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Luke Trader. 

20 years ago, if you had  told me that I would own a restaurant, I would have laughed and said, “No way!”

It was my junior year of high school when God awakened me to the Gospel in a deeper, more powerful way than I had previously understood. I had participated in several mission trips to Jamaica. I had seen the brokenness of people, places, and things, and was feeling a strong call to “Full-Time Ministry.” I felt God wanted me to give my life to sharing the Good News of Jesus- whether it be as a Missionary, Pastor, or Church Planter. Over the next few years, God would lead me to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies, serve at a church for 3.5 years as the Director of Student Ministries, and then serve for another 2 years as a Pastoral Apprentice.

God would also lead me away from that path, through a twist of events, and into the business world. I would never have imagined falling in love with the restaurant business, which I like to call “the people business.” Each and every day, I’m faced with countless opportunities to serve, love, lead, and care for people. Though I never dreamed I’d be doing what I am doing, God, in His Providence, has me right where He wants me. And He is using me in ‘the everyday stuff of life.’ Whether it be serving customers or team members, every day the Lord grants me ‘glimpses of glory’ as I seek to lead and operate a business with excellence, develop leaders, and serve in “REMARK”able ways.

I remember when Dan Cathy (Chairman and CEO of Chick-fil-A) came to Delaware years ago. We were sitting around a table in the Christiana Mall food court talking. Dan wanted to hear our stories. My turn came, and I started off by saying, “I used to be in ‘Full-Time Ministry’, serving as a youth pastor.” Dan quickly cut me off, saying with a smile, “You’re still in Youth Ministry. Look at the team behind that counter.” Dan would go on to say, “Most pastors, if they’re lucky, have a 2-foot-wide pulpit that they get to preach from for about 30 minutes, one day a week, to maybe a few hundred people.” Pointing to the counter again, Dan said, “We have a 30-foot-wide pulpit that we get to preach from for 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, to thousands of people.”

As my path has gone in directions I did not anticipate, I often wonder if I am where God wants me to be. I have prayed, “God, are you calling me somewhere else?” I want my life to count…to matter. I don’t want to waste it. Sometimes I feel like I could be used more elsewhere—in another country that doesn’t have access to the Gospel or that has great physical needs. I think and pray on it, and though I am open to wherever the Lord would lead, I find Him continually telling me to “stay put.” I recently read a quote from Mother Teresa, which resonated with me:

Stay where you are.
Find your own Calcutta.
Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are—
in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools.
You can find Calcutta all over the world,
if you have the eyes to see.
Everywhere, wherever you go,
you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society—
completely forgotten, completely left alone.
—Mother Teresa (Founder of The Missionaries of Charity)

Just this year, I have had the humbling opportunity to lead, officiate, and preach at three funerals…one of which was for an employee. I preached at two summer youth camps. I spent countless hours with unbelievers in the workplace—I  visited some of them in the hospital. I have been a life-coach, a counselor, a friend, and a pastor to my team. I have prayed with and for them.

In a unique, unexpected, and back-door way, I am being and doing what I always felt God calling me to be and do. The story is still unfolding- for me, and for all of us. What an awesome privilege it is to play a small role in the story of God…of Jesus making all things new through redemption and renewal.

    And this is going to be a glorious unfolding
    Just you wait and see and you will be amazed
    You’ve just got to believe the story is so far from over
    So hold on to every promise God has made to us
    And watch this glorious unfolding

    —Steven Curtis Chapman

Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, be not afraid, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!

—Joshua 1:9

Found in the Plot

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from Lauren Bailes.

I am a reader and a writer. My earliest memories include sounding out words while nestled in the laps of my parents and then painstakingly tapping out stories of animal families on a typewriter (before typewriters were trendy home decor). For years, I taught middle schoolers that their stories mattered as much as the books we poured over together. Even now, I relish the work of translating abstractions into practice and fiddling with vocabulary, with sequence, and with structure to meet that end.

Through stories, I understand the world. Meg Murry of A Wrinkle in Time gives voice to my big-sister heart when she shouted through the veil of IT, “I love you, Charles Wallace, I love you.” I learn of Jesus as Lucy learns of Aslan when Mr. Beaver tells her that Aslan is not safe, but he is good – a proposition I repeatedly test and find true. Van Auken’s A Severe Mercy shows me the faithfulness of a near God amidst unspeakable pain. A Midsummer Night’s Dream warns me that earthly treasures are, “Mine own, and not mine own.” There Are No Children Here re-envisions me to build just cities and schools. Tattoos on the Heart brings me to tears when Father G mercifully and insistently reaches through one young man’s venomous veneer to identify a universal human need: “We all just want to be called the name our mom uses when she’s not pissed off at us.”

Stories are my sustenance. Yet I am immensely grateful to know that I am not the author of my own story. At each major plot point – college, my first teaching job, graduate school – I thought I had the story written, the location chosen, the characters in play, and the timeline set. The true Author, and the only one who can truly see the climax, has directed me through a story better designed for his glory and for my joy. I’ve begun to get the hang of this, because I’ve begun to attend to this Author’s story and notice patterns. I make a plan. It seems effective and efficient. I prepare for my story to unfold. Then: the twist. Inevitably, with all the formula of a weekly sitcom, another option emerges – Eastern University, then Brooklyn, then Ohio State, then UDel – that wasn’t even in my storyboard. And it’s better. The Author’s choices for me are always better. So I trust him incrementally more and more with my story.

The unresolved plotlines are the hardest because no amount of scheming on my part can bring about their satisfactory ends. Most of these stories are painful and worrisome. So I pray for the salvation of my brothers, diversity in my church, and compassion among our lawmakers. It is in the living of these plots that I am most prone to question the Author’s choices. Just fix this, I’ll mutter. If nothing is too great for you, prove it. My story and so many others are evidence of exactly that: God the Author writes a better story, remains steadfastly near the characters, and works each ending for good. So I work and read and await the denouement of the “story which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

God in the Sorrow and Unknown

At City Church, we love to remind each other of God's story of creation, fall, redemption, & renewal. We also strive to remind each other that God's story intersects with our own personal journey. Each Tuesday for the next 8 weeks, a City Church attender will be sharing a piece of their story on our blog of a time when this intersection was especially evident for them. Today's story comes from MaryEllen Hobbs.

On a Saturday this past February, I received a phone call from my dad with the news that my Papa (Dad’s dad) had been diagnosed with a very rare form of colon cancer. Papa had already been in the hospital for several weeks with internal bleeding, and by the time they discovered the cause of the bleeding- the cancer, his body was too frail to receive chemotherapy. The conversation that Saturday with my dad ended with him telling me that there was essentially nothing more the doctors could do for my Papa. Feelings of hopelessness, fear, and anger consumed me. I was angry that the doctors had wasted their time with countless tests and treatments focused on the wrong issues in my Papa’s body. I was fearful of what was to come, and I was deep in denial that this was the time God was going to take my Papa to be with Him.

I am so thankful for the close relationship I had with my Papa and for the person he was to our family. He loved Jesus so faithfully, he cared for our family, and worked hard without ever complaining. He was strong with a witty sense of humor. He was always present and supportive in our lives.

After receiving the call on that Saturday, my husband Matt and I quickly made arrangements to take time off from work so we could travel to South Carolina and be with my Papa for a few days. The next week was filled with long hospital visits. I would sit next to my Papa and hope that God would miraculously heal him. I expected God to heal him, and prolong his life here on earth. I wanted my Papa to go back to being the active, hard-working man we knew him to be so that our family wouldn’t have to go through the hurt of losing him.

At the same time, not only was I wrestling with the emotions of what was happening in our family, but I was also wrestling with sudden decisions about my commitments back home. I had a full-time job that was steady paying and comfortable, but it wasn’t going to allow me the time I wanted in South Carolina to spend sacred moments with my family.

I was deep in the sorrow of reality. There were so many unknowns. How could anything good come from these circumstances? How was I supposed to make a rational decision in the midst of these emotions? What would happen if I made the wrong decision? We had no idea how long my Papa would be with us, but I couldn’t fathom missing out on time with him. I feared the unknowns and the results. The weight of the decisions were suffocating.

Without knowing what the future would hold, we drove back to DE so that I could resign from my job, tie up loose ends, and head back down to SC for an extended period of time as quickly as possible. The evening we arrived home in Delaware, Papa went to be with Jesus. At that moment, I felt so angry that my plans to spend more time with him had failed. And yet, although I was angry and sad, I also had a huge sense of relief. The moment I dreaded was now a reality, but there was peace in the middle of the fear and chaos. It didn’t matter what was happening to my plans; it mattered what was happening to Papa- and he was now free from pain. God promises eternity for His children and there was comfort, peace, and hope in my Papa’s homecoming.  

When Matt and I drove back down to South Carolina, God gifted us with so many beautiful moments together as a family, reminiscing on memories of our Papa. He gifted Matt and I with time to heal. He gifted my family with an abundance of love and care from our friends.

Through quitting my job, God has guided me towards new passions- seeking to help others through wellness and nutrition. He’s also opened doors which has that led to my new position as administrative assistant at City Church.

This story is still unfolding. My heart is still healing. There are unknowns, fears, and excitement about the business I hope to create. In light of how God carried me through those dark days, I take joy in the purpose of our sorrow. God was so real to me in that moment of loss and Heaven was so close. He is present always, even in our sorrow, fears, hopes, and joy.  

For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:15-17

Summer in the Psalms Series

This summer we will be going through a sermon series called, "Summer in the Psalms." While Pastor Jason is on sabbatical, a guest pastor will visit each Sunday to share with us from the Book of Psalms. 

The Psalms have a timeless appeal. Consider the words of Athanasius, the Egyptian theologian of the fourth century: "The Psalms contain all the particular movements of the human soul—in the Psalms you learn about yourself." Or this statement from the sixteenth century Swiss theologian, John Calvin: "I have been accustomed to call this book an anatomy of all the parts of the soul; for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror." 

Athanasius, Calvin, and countless others throughout history have encountered themselves in the Psalms. How? The Psalms speak honestly about the ups and downs of life in a fallen world. They cover the full range of human experience—joy, sadness, contentment, anger, peace, fear, trust, and doubt. The Psalms confront us as we really are and guard us from approaching faith detached from the real world. 

The Psalms do more than show us ourselves, however. They also show us God. They train us in how to bring our true selves to God so that we might experience transformation in his presence. May you come to see yourself and God more clearly this summer as we mine the riches of the Psalms together.

The schedule for the series is below:

July 9 - Pastor Jim Weaver (Psalm 1 - "The Way of the Righteous")

July 16 - Pastor Robbie Schmidtberger (Psalm 32 - "The Power and Danger of Admiration")

July 23 - Pastor Tom Harr (Psalm 129 - "But the Lord is Righteous")

July 30 - Pastor Doug Perkins (Psalm 56:8; 126:4-6 - "How Do We Trust God in Our Tears?")

August 6 - Pastor Derrick Parks (Psalm 46 - "God Is...")

August 13 - Pastor Derrick Parks (Psalm 47 - "God Is...")

August 20 - Pastoral Assistant Wayne Pansa (TBD)

Pastor Jason's Sabbatical

The word “sabbatical” comes from a Hebrew word which means to “cease” or “rest.” It is an extended period of time for physical rest, spiritual renewal, and overall refreshment. As you know by now, I will be taking a sabbatical from July 3 through August 21, during which time I will be disengaged from life and ministry at City Church. Pastoral Assistant, Wayne Pansa, will oversee pastoral care in my absence. Margie Comanda, our Director of Congregational Life, will oversee the logistics related to daily church life. 

I am incredibly grateful for this gift from the elders. They recognized that after seven years of church planting in an urban environment it would be wise for me to have an extended break. They (as do I) desire for me to serve as pastor of City Church for years to come.

Here are ways you can pray for my sabbatical:

1. Pray for rest and refreshment. Over the past several months I have detected signs of fatigue. I look forward to returning reenergized in August. 
2. Pray for us as a family. I am thankful for the opportunity that I will have to be present with and attentive to Katie and the girls without the demands of pastoral ministry before me. 
3. Pray for spiritual renewal. I feel the need to withdraw, reflect, draw near to God, and seek vision for the next few years of ministry.

I am confident that this sabbatical will bear fruit for me, my family, and our congregation for years to come. Thank you for your prayers!

Pastor Jason

Meet Our New Administrator!

We are excited to announce that we have hired MaryEllen Hobbs as our new administrator at City Church! MaryEllen, along with her husband Matt, are covenant members who serve on the leadership team of the Newark community group. 

The Administrator provides administrative support to the church staff and oversees the financial giving of the congregation. The responsibilities of the position include:

• administrative tasks that Laura Williams previously performed (along with a few new ones)
• financial secretary tasks that Laura performed (depositing the weekly offering, tracking congregational giving, and sending out annual giving receipts).

The position does not include the responsibilities of a treasurer (payroll, bill pay, etc.). For the time being, Laura will continue to fulfill those tasks.

We are excited to add MaryEllen to the City Church staff. She will be transitioning into her new role over the next couple of weeks.

City Church is Hiring: Admin Position

Laura Williams, who has served on our ministry team since City Church started seven years ago, is stepping out of her role in order to focus more time and attention on her growing family. While we are sad to lose Laura from our staff, we are incredibly grateful for her service and the role that she played in helping to plant City Church. The good news is that Laura isn't going anywhere! She and Ian will remain active members of our church family.

With Laura's departure from our ministry team, we are looking to fill an administrator position. You can download the job description here. Please direct inquiries to Pastor Jason.

Preparing for Worship—April 9, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—April 2, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—March 26, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here. 

Preparing for Worship—March 19, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—March 12, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—March 5, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—February 26, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Preparing for Worship—February 19, 2017

Our order of worship is designed to tell God's Story by moving us through the main acts of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. The goal is for us to rehearse the drama of redemption and celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done. Sunday worship is a powerful tool that God uses to form us as his people. We craft the worship guide with this in mind, but also with the intention that it be used throughout the week as an aid to help us cultivate life in Christ.

You can view Sunday's worship guide here.

Derrick Parks, Church Planter of Epiphany Church Wilmington, a church plant supported by City Church, will be preaching on "Overcoming Adversity" from 1 Peter 3. 

What Does a Church Planting Resident Do?

The following post was written by our Church Planting Resident, Robbie Schmidtberger.

One of the most frequent questions that I get is: "what is it that a church planting resident does?" Recently two people who know the answer—Katie Sica and Jim Brown—both asked me the same question: "what do your days look like?" So I wanted to take some time to answer that as I suspect that many of you are wondering the same question. 

Simply put, my job is to plant Iron Works West Chester. Certainly I have responsibilities at City Church, like developing the School of Discipleship and teaching Emotionally Healthy Spirituality with our Pastoral Assistant Wayne Pansa. But during the week my sole focus is on West Chester. Each week is different as the work continues to develop. One week recently I spent time fundraising and meeting with people to share more about our vision. The next week, on the other hand, was quite different. I met with the contractor who is renovating our worship space, an insurance agent, and dealt with other administrative details. Every day of each week I ask myself the question: what needs to happen today so that Iron Works West Chester is one inch closer to being a reality? 

Beginning in February, I started splitting time on Sundays between City Church and Iron Works Phoenixville, as I’m preaching in Phoenixville every other week. Iron Works Phoenixville is going to serve as our governing oversight, while Pastor Jason serves as my church planting coach. 

Truly Pastor Jason has been incredibly supportive of my ministry, and City Church continues to be a perfect place to develop Iron Works West Chester. Over the course of the next few months, we will be stepping out in faith that God will establish the work of our hands.