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Are you a Committment-Phobe?
By Pete Rayner on Thu 01st Sep 2011
The highs and lows of results day are well behind us now and the start of the new university term is almost upon us!
If this is the beginning of your time in York then you’ll no doubt be getting geared up for all the decisions that you’ll soon be making and asking questions like, “Which sports teams and societies do I join?” “Which bars are cool to go to?” “How late can I get up and still make it on time to lectures?” “What shall I spend that student loan on?” “Can I still get my parents to do my washing?”There is one decision that many of my friends say they regret when they look back on their time at university; “I wish I’d got stuck into church life much sooner.” Many of my friends looked back at their first year and wondered why they’d hopped from church to church, never settling and never committing before having an epiphany in their second or third year of just how far they’d slipped away from relationship with Jesus and His people.
The common wisdom is to shop around to find the best deal going - with everything.
Church isn’t like that though.
Church isn’t about what you can suck out of it.
Church isn’t about who has got the snazziest building, the liveliest music and the tastiest food.
Church isn’t a club or group that you can squeeze into your already busy lives.
Church is about the presence of God amongst His people; the very interface between heaven and Earth.
Church is about a shared mission to reach the lost and broken; to bring restoration and redemption.
Church is about a dynamic community that shapes one another and where God’s word is preached with boldness and authority.
Church is about following God anointed leaders and participating in a joint vision.
We would love you all to make York City Church your home, but the truth is there are lots of great churches in this wonderful city. What matters the most is that you choose to give your time in York to loving, serving and being a local church, not just turning up and keeping some seats warm on a Sunday.
Will you make a decision to commit? In the words of Starsky & Hutch’s Maury Finkle, “Do it! Do it!”
About the author / Pete Rayner
Pete Rayner (aka Pepe) is a PhD student at the University of York and oversees the City Church student team.
Are you a Committment-Phobe?The highs and lows of results day are well behind us now and the start of the new university term is almost upon us!
If this is the beginning of your time in York then you’ll no doubt be getting geared up for all the decisions that you’ll soon be making and asking questions like, “Which sports teams and societies do I join?” “Which bars are cool to go to?” “How late can I get up and still make it on time to lectures?” “What shall I spend that student loan on?” “Can I still get my parents to do my washing?”There is one decision that many of my friends say they regret when they look back on their time at university; “I wish I’d got stuck into church life much sooner.” Many of my friends looked back at their first year and wondered why they’d hopped from church to church, never settling and never committing before having an epiphany in their second or third year of just how far they’d slipped away from relationship with Jesus and His people.
The common wisdom is to shop around to find the best deal going - with everything.
Church isn’t like that though.
Church isn’t about what you can suck out of it.
Church isn’t about who has got the snazziest building, the liveliest music and the tastiest food.
Church isn’t a club or group that you can squeeze into your already busy lives.
Church is about the presence of God amongst His people; the very interface between heaven and Earth.
Church is about a shared mission to reach the lost and broken; to bring restoration and redemption.
Church is about a dynamic community that shapes one another and where God’s word is preached with boldness and authority.
Church is about following God anointed leaders and participating in a joint vision.
We would love you all to make York City Church your home, but the truth is there are lots of great churches in this wonderful city. What matters the most is that you choose to give your time in York to loving, serving and being a local church, not just turning up and keeping some seats warm on a Sunday.
Will you make a decision to commit? In the words of Starsky & Hutch’s Maury Finkle, “Do it! Do it!”
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By
Good work Pepe! Glad to have you back from your holiday in the ‘South’!
By
Very true!