God is calling us to go deep and wide

This is our word for the year that we felt God put on our hearts.

Already we’ve seen this come to reality in practicing prayer, fasting and scripture reading as a community. (This is us going “deep”)

But we must also go wide!

What does it mean to go wide?

It simply means loving our neighbors with the love of Jesus.

Specifically in this season (starting March 31), we are using the Alpha Film Series to create a space for those far from Jesus to have conversations around faith. The vision for this is for even just one person to come to know the love and the freedom that is only found in Jesus.

What if 16 people discovered who Jesus is and began following Him?

We have about 16 adults in our community currently. What if everyone brought someone? What if we all seriously prayed for those around us and took bold steps of faith? It’s humbling to think that God can use our effort to change someone’s life in the best and biggest way possible. This is why we’re doing this.

FAQs

  • It’s an 11-week film series. You’ll get the idea if you watch the first one below.

  • Yes. This will be during our gathering. Think of it as an “outreach season.” And while the film is aimed at those who are not yet followers of Jesus, the film and discussion will also be life-giving to you too. So don’t count yourself out!

  • We are still starting at 10:30.

    We are still doing doing lunch.

    We are still having an awesome kids program.

    The main that is shifting is that we will be watching a 20-30 minute video and then discussing it in groups. Also since this is an outreach season, we will be doing less worship in music to help those checking it out feel comfortable

Alpha only works if you’re involved.

Seriously though… We know God has led us to use this film series as an outreach. But it requires all of us participating.

So here is what you can do:

  1. Pray

    Pray over the names of people we want to see come to alpha. Write down three names on the prayer doc and let’s pray every day for God to draw them.

2. Invite

Whether this is a literal neighbor, a coworker, a friend, a stranger, or your barista here are some tips on how to invite.

  • Lead with authenticity.

  • Pray for God to give you opportunity and to prepare their heart.

  • This is an 11-week series but just focus on inviting them to the launch party on 3/31.

  • Here’s a sample text to help you out:

    💬

    “My community is getting ready to do Alpha and I thought of you! It’s a time to gather, eat a good meal, watch a short video about life and faith, and then there’s time to share what you think about the topic. All thoughts are welcome. If I picked you up or met you there, would you come check it out with me?”

    You could also end it with: “If you’re interested I can send you the link with more info.”

    The invite link: neighborschurch.com/alpha

3. Serve

Lastly, we need people to serve at Alpha. This includes the regular things many of you already do like bringing lunch, setting up, tearing down and serving in Kids. Some of you will be assigned to host the discussions.

To really understand what Alpha is it’s best to watch the first episode. This will also help you understand how you can describe it to others. It will probably make you want to invite more people to it, because it’s really well done.