2. Our Mission Meeting people where they are; traveling with them to where Jesus is leading.

3. Our Vision We seek to glorify God by being a Christ- centered church that loves and serves others through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

4. Our Values Powerful Prayer Authentic Relationships Transforming Grace Radical Generosity Intentional Hospitality Creative Outreach

5. Our Mission Meeting people where they are; traveling with them to where Jesus is leading.

6. Our Mission Meeting people where they are;

7. Why is so important to “meet people where they are”?

8. Matthew 28:19-20 The Great Commission Then Jesus came to them [his disciples] and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...

9. 1. We need to “go”, in order to “meet people where they are” because Jesus told us to. 2. We need to go to the physical location of people to “meet them where they are,” because this is what Jesus did.

10. Matthew 4:13 Leaving Nazareth, he [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum...

11. Why did Jesus leave Nazareth? To fulfill prophecy He was not accepted as the Messiah/a prophet in his hometown of Nazareth Nazareth was not where the people (that God wanted Jesus to reach) were. It was a city not a small town.

12. It was in Capernaum (not Nazareth) that Jesus called James, John, Andrew, Simon Peter and Matthew to be his disciples.

13. Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

14. John 4:3-9... the Lord... left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

15. John 4:3-9 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?") (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

16. John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him [Jesus] because of the woman's testimony,

17. John 8:1-3 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group.

18. Where is God calling you to “go” to tell others about Jesus Christ? God may be calling you into a new place, a new job or into a new adventure. or You are already where God wants you.

19. The Call by Os Guiness The problem with Western Christians is not that they aren’t where they should be but they aren’t what they should be where they are.

20. Where do you “go”? Work School Mission trips Servant evangelism Golfing, playing softball, bowling, running hobbies To other parents/families your child(ren) know Prisons Indian Lake

21. Jesus often created scandals by meeting people “where they are.”

22. Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.

23. John 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?") (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

24. John 8:1-3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group.

25. Time, after time, after time, Jesus begins his initial ministry to people by accepting people where they are. But Jesus never accepts their sinful condition.

26. 3. We need to “meet people where they are” in their spiritual condition. 4. If we truly want to “meet people where they are”, we need a non-judgmental attitude.

27. 3. We need to “meet people where they are” in their spiritual condition. 4. IF we truly want to “meet people where they are”, we need a non-judgmental attitude spirit.

28. Coffee and the men’s groups question.

29. Three questions all of us need to answer: Where are you going? Why are you going there? Are you willing to “meet people where they are”?