River’s Edge Church

One of the obstacles to witnessing in our culture is relativism, which says that your truth is your truth, and no one should challenge another in their worldview or religious beliefs. And yet that is exactly what the early church did, and what we're called to do as well. 

As we dream about a move of God in our nation, we want to know and understand our time, place, and culture (as any missionary would). Join us as we unpack some of the date on "iGen" (those born 1995-2012) and begin dreaming and praying about what Jesus wants to do in the lives of the emerging generation. 

We live in a culture of slaves that tell us they are free, and we exist as a community of freedom which the world thinks is slavery. 

The apostle Paul writes to the church, warning them not to be taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition rather than on Christ. But one of the great pitfalls of the cultural moment we're living in is that the church often is taken captive by political narratives, at the risk of compromising Kingdom vision. 

The second movement of the series is all about studying the culture itself - seeking to understand the time and place we live, as any missionary would. And we want to start by asking a simple question: what is Post-Christian culture? 

Life in the Spirit is central to effective witness, and so are the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit. Our dream is to be a church both grounded in the Word and flooded with the Spirit, for the glory of God in the world. 

The odds of the disciples winning the ancient world were slim to none. All the odds were stacked against them. They were stifled by doubt and fear, but the risen Jesus told "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses." What's the relationship between the Holy Spirit and witnessing? And how should the Spirit factor into our witness today? 

Our culture is entering a growing truth crisis. We aren't sure what is true and what is false, who to trust and who not to trust, and it's in this context that we are called to stand on the truth God has revealed to us, and speak truth to power. This is the very definition of a witness.

The early church was full of the Spirit and on fire for God, but they reached, touched, and transformed the Roman Empire through one of God's most radical ideas: community. In order to reach, touch, and transform our own culture, which is being powerfully shaped by individualism, we need to recapture the biblical vision for community. 

There is a cultural myth that says that Christianity is in inevitable decline and has been for 500 years. In reality, history speaks of boom and bust cycles, or waves that rise and fall. As the tide rolls out on faith in the Western world, the remnant that's left is intended to cry God for another wave; nothing short of the revival and renewal of the Western world.