You can't love God and hate your story

Most of us do not have a problem with God being our Creator. It is seeing him as the author of the story of our lives that gives us trouble. Did God put sexual abuse in our stories? Infertility? Is he the reason some of us are single and feel like the unchosen widows and widowers of our day? Did he give us a spouse that sometimes drives us insane for a reason? Is it possible to love God and hate our stories at the same time? Is it possible to enjoy the Bible if we are not awake to our own story?

I love these questions because they are pregnant with our deepest passions. They hold out so much opportunity for us to become more alive towards God even if the aliveness is birthed out of significant confusion, rage and hurt. God loves to take the deep questions of our souls and draw us into his epic story if we are willing to question, feel, remember and re-write.

The next three weeks we will begin a series at Restoration called, "To Be Told." A good friend of mine wrote a book by the title. I hope many will join us as we seek to know our stories, find God through them and make them better.

Visit our church in Denver website at www.Restorationcc.us

2020 Vision

Ten years from now I want to hear:

* My wife say, "I can't believe how much this man loves me."
* My kids say, "Of course we follow Jesus, is there a better way to live?"
* Unchurched people say, "Our city, our school, our neighborhood, is so much better off thanks to Restoration Community Church."
* Restoration members say, "This church has helped me and my family experience restoration! I want everyone I know to be a part of my church."
* Church attenders in Denver say, "We go to a church Restoration helped start."
* People around the world say, "Because of friends in Denver, 'I have water' or 'I was able to start a business' or 'I had an operation that saved my life' or 'I am seeking God by following Jesus' or 'I have hope' or 'We have a home' or 'We have peace.'"

Okay, I just got pumped up. Time to pray and get to work!

Restoration Community Church in Denver

Intergenerational Church

We live in a multi-generational part of town but we also live during a time when mono-generational churches are the trend. Our desire as a church is to be inter-generational. Peter Mencioni makes a great point in saying you can be a multigenerational church and still not have people from various generations growing together. Intergenerational implies they are mixing together in a synergistic, life-giving way that promotes spiritual formation.

The advantages of being inter-generational are:

• The older generations can mentor the younger generations.
• The younger generations can keep the church from becoming irrelevant.
• The effort involved in keeping generations unified leads to spiritual growth and character development.
• A generationally unified church witnesses to the power of the gospel in the surrounding community.

What does it take?

• The willingness to give and take regarding worship styles. Currently it will require a mix of worship rock, old school hymns and maybe a few contemporary worship songs to create worship unity.
• Preaching that is relevant to people in different stages of life and faith.
• The intentional mixing of generations in various environments.
• Having leadership teams with representatives from various generations.

What are the challenges?

• As always – sin. As people we naturally gravitate towards what we want rather than what is best for all.
• The humility needed to learn from one another.
• A lack of solid models to follow.
• The enemy who always seeks to undermine any God honoring expression of unity in the Church.

An intergenerational church is worth the effort. At Restoration Community Church in Denver we plan to give it our best efforts. We believe this is what God is leading us towards. Pray for us!