Enjoying Being Part of Jesus' Church
w/ Christian Reformed Church (CRC),
& Soma Family of Churches
I've been inspired with the idea for this post due to people within Emmaus City and those around Worcester asking questions like, "What is the CRC and/or Soma?", "How did you become an ordained pastor and decide to help form a new congregation?", and "It seems like Emmaus City has multiple affiliations; why?"
All great questions, and because people have asked them, I've been able to get some practice honing the answers, particularly in a predominantly Roman Catholic and nonreligious region where people have solid critiques of Protestant Christians. My answers provided in this post will attempt to provide an introduction.
For details answers featuring
summaries, videos, and values:
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CRC
CRC
connects us to
a nearly 500-year-old denomination
(and some key theologians and missionaries
in Jesus' Church history like
Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper,
Johanna Veenstra, and Samuel Zwemer)
and to Jesus' faithfulness
to build His Church
throughout the generations
(Matthew 16:16-19; Ephesians 4:11-16).
a nearly 500-year-old denomination
(and some key theologians and missionaries
in Jesus' Church history like
Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper,
Johanna Veenstra, and Samuel Zwemer)
and to Jesus' faithfulness
to build His Church
throughout the generations
(Matthew 16:16-19; Ephesians 4:11-16).
CRC Videos:
Joining God in the Neighborhood
Discipleship
Let It Shine
CRC Values
Gospel Proclamation & Worship
Believing that faith comes through the hearing of God's Word, we proclaim the saving message of Jesus Christ and seek to worship Him in all that we do.
Faith Formation
As a community of believers, we seek to introduce people to Jesus Christ and to nurture their faith through all ages and stages of life.
Servant Leadership
Understanding that the lifelong equipping of leaders is essential for churches and ministries to flourish, we identify, recruit and train leaders to be servants in the Kingdom of God.
Global Mission
Called to be witnesses of Christ's Kingdom to the ends of the earth, we start and strengthen local churches in North America and around the world.
Mercy and Justice
Hearing the cries of the oppressed, forsaken and disadvantaged, we seek to act justly and love mercy as we walk humbly with our God.
Sample Books by CRC Fam
A Light to the Nations:
The Missional Church & the Biblical Story
by Michael W. Goheen
The Missional Church & the Biblical Story
by Michael W. Goheen
Next Worship:
Glorifying God in a Diverse World
by Sandra Maria Van Opstal
Glorifying God in a Diverse World
by Sandra Maria Van Opstal
Urban Ministry:
The Kingdom, the City & the People of God
by Manuel Ortiz and Harvie M. Conn
The Kingdom, the City & the People of God
by Manuel Ortiz and Harvie M. Conn
Some Key CRC Organizations
We bring the Gospel to people, neighborhoods, communities, churches and the world to embolden them in participating in God’s mission and faithfully proclaiming and living out the good news of Jesus. We do this through Regions, Initiatives, and Starting Churches.
World Renew
Compelled by God’s deep passion for justice and mercy, we join communities around the world to renew hope, reconcile lives, and restore creation. World Renew's worldwide ministry is three-fold:
1) Community Development
2) Disaster Response & Rehabilitation
3) Peace and Justice
equips us to be disciples of Jesus
who make disciples of Jesus
in the everyday stuff of life
(Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 6:7, 14:21-23).
who make disciples of Jesus
in the everyday stuff of life
(Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 6:7, 14:21-23).
Soma Videos
What Does MC Life Look Like?
Dope Church
Big House Beans
Soma Values
Gospel Saturation
We want to see Gospel saturation so that every adult and child has a daily encounter with Jesus in word and deed; it is the truth of the Gospel that enables us to genuinely and joyfully do what is pleasing to God and to grow in progressive conformity to the image of Christ.
Missional Community
We believe a Gospel community on mission is the primary structure for making disciples of Jesus who increasingly submit to Him in all of life (worship), are being changed by Him (new identity), and obey Him and teach others to do the same (multiplication); if the mission of making disciples is the process of bringing all of life under the lordship and empowering presence of Jesus Christ, then we create environments where life on life, life in community, and life on mission can occur.
Always Reforming
We are a Gospel-centered, theologically-formed family of churches who are always in need of reforming as the Word, the Spirit, and the Church (contemporary and historical) continue to shape us towards greater faithfulness and fruitfulness.
Sample Books by Soma FamSaturate:
Being Disciples of Jesus
in the Everyday Stuff of Life
by Jeff Vanderstelt
Called Together:
A Guide to Forming Missional Communities
by J.K. Dodson & Brad Watson
by Brad Watson and Heidi Wygle
Key Soma Equipping Resources
Soma School
A missional ecclesiology immersion which exists to see servant leaders thoroughly gripped by the gospel, orientated toward saturating cities with the presence and power of Jesus.
Saturate
A ministry of the Soma Family of Churches that exists to resource disciples, congregations, and community leaders throughout the world in a gospel-centered, missional ecclesiology through equipping, coaching, consulting, and resourcing.
In light of all of the above,
Emmaus City Church believes that:
Emmaus City Church believes that:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
is cosmic, communal, and personal.
is cosmic, communal, and personal.
As Abraham Kuyper, a theologian in the CRC tradition, once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine.” (Acts 29 and Soma both love this quote, too.)
This means there is not one aspect of the human experience that the Gospel, or Good News of Jesus' reign of grace, truth, mercy and justice does not impact, and so we seek to apply this Good News to everyday life, whether we are working, eating, playing, or resting. Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of His Spirit, and His coming return changes everything. And we trust that one day the entire cosmos is ultimately going to be reconciled to God through Christ for eternity.
In light of this, we remind each other of this Good News in the yearly rhythms of the Christian calendar, as well as in our daily and weekly rhythms. The seasons of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and Lent-Easter-Pentecost help us to embody the practice each year to look to Christ and His death-defying love and life for our salvation. We anticipate and celebrate how our gracious God comes to us, saves us, and transforms us out to be like Him. And we get to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him and others for the life of the world until He returns to make all things new.
The mission of God
flows from how we view
God through His covenant & kingdom
relationship with humanity & creation.
God gives us our identity from which our mission flows, and He gives us rest in Him from which our work flourishes. The ultimate mission of the Church has always been the same and will never cease: we are created to love God and enjoy Him forever with each other and all of creation as we multiply His image-bearing throughout the earth. That is why our liturgies during our masses are rooted in recognizing how the Father, Son, and Spirit give us our identity. God gathers and commissions us to be His family of Kingdom servants and witnesses who are set apart for the life of the world during the week. God sends the Church to make disciples of Jesus as we see His redemption, reconciliation, and restoration reaching for every corner of the earth.
flows from how we view
God through His covenant & kingdom
relationship with humanity & creation.
God gives us our identity from which our mission flows, and He gives us rest in Him from which our work flourishes. The ultimate mission of the Church has always been the same and will never cease: we are created to love God and enjoy Him forever with each other and all of creation as we multiply His image-bearing throughout the earth. That is why our liturgies during our masses are rooted in recognizing how the Father, Son, and Spirit give us our identity. God gathers and commissions us to be His family of Kingdom servants and witnesses who are set apart for the life of the world during the week. God sends the Church to make disciples of Jesus as we see His redemption, reconciliation, and restoration reaching for every corner of the earth.
The Christian faith is Scripturally
and historically tied together
to Jesus' historic and global Church.
We uphold the Scriptures
as our rule of faith
while also embracing the practices
and traditions of Jesus' Church
that can be affirmed
throughout all of Christian history.
We are so thankful to be rooted
in the historic, broken,
yet continuing to mend,
family tree of Jesus' Church
with the covenant promises,
Creeds, and Apostolic faith
passed down to us.
Rather than taking
an overly skeptical view of the past,
we approach how God is speaking
to us from Scripture,
then consider the historic tradition
of our brothers and sisters
from the past and present
around the world
so we gain more understanding
of everything Jesus has done
and continues to do
to unite and build His Church
throughout the millennia.
This humble posture
in the midst of our ongoing story
is a way the historic and global
family of God
can continue to teach us
how to navigate and see clearly
our specific culture
we often breathe in unconsciously.
Christian teachings and practices
throughout the centuries
help us thoughtfully test
modern interpretations of Scripture
that may seem novel
but ultimately prove lacking
in connecting us to
the Story of God
and the teachings of Jesus that
are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The goal is for us
to be thoroughly centered and rooted
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We participate in His life through the verbally proclaimed Word and visibly demonstrated Eucharist together during Sabbath gatherings. And we participate in God’s continuing mission to redeem His people and renew all things in Worcester and beyond throughout missional community life during the course of our days. We are the treasured body and bride of Christ who love and worship Jesus, and love and serve each other. We get to rest, reflect, listen, serve, eat, pray and celebrate in our gatherings and our scatterings. These spiritual practices (and more) have endured throughout the ages to help point our hearts towards God’s Kingdom when we try to rush past life without Him. The enduring, trans-generational, and transcultural nature of the Gospel reminds us that Jesus' Church is and always has been a worshiping and missional community throughout time and place.
to be thoroughly centered and rooted
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We participate in His life through the verbally proclaimed Word and visibly demonstrated Eucharist together during Sabbath gatherings. And we participate in God’s continuing mission to redeem His people and renew all things in Worcester and beyond throughout missional community life during the course of our days. We are the treasured body and bride of Christ who love and worship Jesus, and love and serve each other. We get to rest, reflect, listen, serve, eat, pray and celebrate in our gatherings and our scatterings. These spiritual practices (and more) have endured throughout the ages to help point our hearts towards God’s Kingdom when we try to rush past life without Him. The enduring, trans-generational, and transcultural nature of the Gospel reminds us that Jesus' Church is and always has been a worshiping and missional community throughout time and place.
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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