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New Church In South East Missouri
Our new church, The Exchange Community, has been meeting monthly through the summer. We’ve had three worship gatherings. We’ve had many people, who haven’t been to church in a long time, come and check us out. We are now taking that next step of faith by starting a weekly worship gathering on September 8th at the Creative Edge.
Through the summer we talked about the three values of a GCM Collective church:
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What is The Gospel?
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The Mission of God.
Unfortunately, we had audio problems and so we don’t have a video for our messages on the Gospel and Mission.
We will talk on September 8th on Why a New Church? We will talk about why in, of all places, South East Missouri, do we need a new church? You’ll get an understanding of the come-as-you are culture that we’re trying to create. You’ll see what makes this new church community distinct amongst the other churches in our communities. You’ll also see why this new type of church is needed.
Please pray for us as we start this new church to reach many more people with the love and message of Jesus Christ.
Check out and like our Facebook page.
Check out other posts about The Exchange Community:
Should I Bring My Kids To The Exchange Community?
Jesus said,
Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these. ~Matthew 19:14
We Love Our Children! Yet sometimes it’s difficult to get anything out of a message or to worship when our kids just won’t cooperate. For some the option has been for one parent to keep the kids at home or to send them to a Sunday school class during the worship gathering. Yet, in these cases, our children never learn the importance of having a rhythm of worship.
We offer an age appropriate story, activity, and snack for our smaller children during our message time. This way they get to worship with their family yet also hear a message at their own level. Just have you children sit with you and we’ll call all the children right before the message and bring them back before the closing song.
We also have a little room for parents with small children to use if necessary.
Here are a few suggestions to help you engage and teach your child about the worship gathering:
- Before worship, talk to your child about why we worship God. Because of the great love that God has shown us through Jesus, we want to give thanks to Him and learn more about his love.
- Communicate your behavior expectations before the gathering begins.
- Have your child do the things you do, stand, fold hands, pray, etc.
- Follow along with them in the bible reading for the day.
- Especially if your children are too old for our kids Corner, sit close to the front so the child can visually engage with the speaker.
- work on elements of the gathering at home with them: The Lord’s Prayer, Apostles Creed, and frequently used songs, etc.
- Talk about the good things that happened at the gathering. Ask your children, “What did you learn about God?”, “What did you learn about his love?”, “What did you learn about Jesus?”, “What Story did they talk about in Kids Corner?”
- Pick up a, “Jesus Story Book Bible” at the local bookstore or in the back of church to help you teach your children about Jesus during the rest of the week.
- Teach them the gathering is just part of the Christian Life. Join a Missional Community to show them how God’s people follow Jesus together and Show his love through.
New Church: The Exchange Community
We’ve been gathering in our Missional Communities for over a year now. God’s been doing some great things through those MCs. We believe faith grows in motion and that the Christian life is best lived out together in Gospel Communities on Mission. Yet we feel like we’re ready to take that next step in planting a church. Starting this Sunday, June 23, we’re going to have our first corporate worship gathering.
What’s Behind the Name?
We chose the name, The Exchange Community, because it is central to the message of Jesus. The Apostle Paul says,
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” ~2 Cor 5:21
In other words, Jesus traded places with us. The sinless son of God, the prince of the universe, gave up everything he had. He became one of us. He experienced our hardships, guilt and pain when he hung on a cross to die for our sins. He stood in the place of Judgment to pay for all our mistakes. We then, through faith in Jesus, step into his place. Everything that belongs to the Son of God becomes ours! Even though we lived messed up lives and daily make mistakes and do the wrong thing, Jesus paid for it all. Now when God looks at us he sees his Son, whom he loves. He sees someone who is accepted, approved of, and loved just as much as if we were Jesus himself.
Now then, we then strive to also make an exchange in our lives. Since he has shown us such great love, we want to love in return. We want to be a community who follows in Jesus’ ways and who loves as he loves as we exchange our dreams for the God’s dream to see all people become his children once more.
Location and Time
We are starting out having Monthly Gatherings throughout the Summer. We are meeting at the Creative Edge at 9 a.m. on the following dates:
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June 23rd
- July 28th
- August 25th
We hope to start a weekly service after Labor Day.
Don’t depend our you GPS or your Phone to find your way to the Creative Edge. Their Address is not recognized by Google maps or any GPS I’ve found. You can follow this link to a map for the Creative Edge, even though they have the address wrong. Because of this I also created the map on the right you can follow. Enterprise is about a half mile south of Exit 105 on Interstate 55.
Please Pray
We have invited a number of unchurch or dechurched people to attend our worship services. Some of them have been involved in our Missional Communities. Others have not. Please pray that all who have been invited come and that they experience the love and presence of Jesus.
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/theExchangeCommunity
Faith In Motion 