Archive for category: News

Quest: The Encounter (John 4:7-40)

Jesus often crossed paths with others not from his “tribe.” He did not shy away from these moments, instead regularly seeking out these connections. He met people in their daily lives, like the Samaritan woman at the well and her community and engaged with them at the point of their deepest yearning.

When we seek out and open ourselves to new encounters, new people, new relationships, we allow ourselves a spiritual connection with humanity. When we do this, we discover more spiritual depth within us than we previously imagined.
How can we shift our perception, redefining “strangers” as “friends we have not yet met?”

Ephesians 3:14-21

The word ‘rooted’ means to be ‘established deeply and firmly.’ Many of our beliefs and opinions are rooted within us, our ways of being church are rooted in us, our society’s customs and beliefs are rooted strongly with us…and sometimes that is great. We have a deep well of beliefs to follow and depend upon. Other times it’s not so great as we cling to beliefs that are unhealthy or harmful for ourselves, our family and friends, our society at large just because they are familiar.

In our message for this week, we’re told that we are all ‘rooted and grounded in love.” A love of God that is so deep and extravagant it is almost incomprehensible to us. How do we learn to dig into God’s extravagant love for us and everyone else, and prune away the beliefs that are harmful and do not promote growth?

Shawnee Community has had many important stories over the years and through them all God has led our faith community. From a new church plant decades ago with growth and building a place for worship and play, to struggling through lean economic times, to reevaluating priorities, selling a building that no longer met our needs and then reinventing ourselves for a new place and time. Surviving a pandemic, which was no small feat, to our present thriving with growing children and youth ministries…God has and will lead us.

So, what do we need to do to continue to live out our story? How do we continue to be faithful to the mission God calls us?

Because we’re not done yet. We’ve got plenty of passion, life, and commitment for our present and our future. And we would love for you to be part of the journey with us…

Who Are We? Affirming and Welcoming of ALL People

Being a church can be challenging in this day and age…there are so many options of faith communities and ways to worship…many are uplifting and caring communities of faith, some are not. How can we tell the difference when looking for a faith community?

Shawnee Community is a place where all are welcomed, accepted, and affirmed for who they are. Even so, it can be a challenge to share that message in a way that’s heard by the folks who need it in a world with so many competing and louder messages.

Churches can and ought to be places of safety, refuge, love and spiritual growth…how can we continue to live into those spaces?

Who Do We Want Jesus to Be? (Mark 9:2-9)

So often we take the Jesus we read about, hear about, preach about, pray about and we try and fit him into neat little boxes we’ve created for him. Often we try and limit Jesus’ teachings to what we’re comfortable with and what’s acceptable to us.

Jesus’ teachings were compassionate and loving, but at the same time, they were radical, uncomfortable, and demanded that his followers grow and stretch to follow him…

Trying to fit Jesus into a theological or denominational box is one way of trying to control Jesus’ message. But what if Faith isn’t supposed to work that way? What if Jesus is asking us to let go of our illusion of control and instead have our faith stretched in new ways?