Our hope is for a community that grows into the Beatitudes, becoming poor in spirit, okay with mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness and justice, genuinely merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and if opposed, because we promote goodness that leads to human flourishing.
We started from scratch last September and are now 40-ish people trying to gel as a group, welcome newcomers, and coalesce around a common vision. For us that vision includes (beyond the values of the Beatitudes mentioned above) becoming a multi-ethnic church where the gospel is cherished and dividing lines are crossed through reconciling love.
We want to see people who are not followers of Jesus become fully-formed disciples. And we want to serve the vulnerable in South Scottsdale and South Phoenix, having developed some good partnerships in both neighborhoods. We also aspire to contextualize Christianity in a way that’s both intelligible and compelling to 20 and 30 somethings.
Secularism in the West promises the good life, but it leaves people rootless. The Left and Right produce a similar type of person: someone who is highly individualistic, someone who lives in the moment, someone who has to look to externals to find a sense of meaning, someone not restricted by binding commitments, someone who can move around easily. It doesn’t have a vision for character formation or sense of place. Why not try and create something different?
Worship Location and Time
We meet at First Southern Baptist Church of Scottsdale (5230 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85253) in the Fellowship Hall, which is located on the north side of the campus. We meet on Sundays @ 4PM. We’ll have a Nursery for ages 3-36 months. The service has a flow and builds to communion. Hopefully we turn out to be an easy-to-enter group that’s caring and kind, genuine not pretentious. FSBCS is located on Scottsdale Road just north of Chaparral. Look for us on the northside of their campus.
Affiliation
We are formally connected with the Presbyterian Church in America, a denomination that has provided funding to get us off the ground, for which we’re grateful. To be honest, we’re more self-consciously Christian than presbyterian. We resonate with the idea that Christianity is like a vast hall out of which doors open into several rooms — and in those rooms (in the analogy, the rooms represent different Christian traditions/denominations) are comfortable fires and chairs and delightful meals to be served. We love the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism, and overall, the church catholic, which stretches across cultures and continents and ages.
Church Planting Apprentice
We envision a church that’s primarily English-speaking but incorporates Spanish every week either through Scripture reading or songs or prayers. We’re eager to find a 2nd/3rd generation Latino brother who is interested in church planting and pastoral leadership. We could pay him part time to train with us and send him through seminary if he hasn’t been yet. If you know of anyone, please consider putting him in touch.