Reforming Church | Family

About this series: In some senses nothing has changed - the church is still the church, with the same values, the same vision and the same people. Yet, so much has changed - we are now onsite and online, people are still going through a historic event and church life will never be quite the same again. A series on the church is therefore very timely and will hopefully remind people of the unchangeable nature of the church as well as envisioning people for what has changed. We’re framing this series of Sunday talks around eight terms used in the New Testament to describe the church - people, family, community, temple, unity, body, disciples, witnesses. These are the words the New Testament uses to describe the Spirit-empowered people of God and these are key elements for how we want to build Citygate. About this talk: Scripture: Hebrews 2:5-18 The most common word the New Testament writers use (over 100 times) to refer to fellow Christians is "brothers” (meaning “brothers and sisters"). Because God is our Father, all his children are therefore siblings in his family. Being a child of God, his son (or daughter) is the primary mark of our new identity as God’s adopted children. Jesus, the perfect Son, is the way we enter the family and the model for relationships in the family. This radically affects how we see ourselves, God’s people collectively and each individual we are in the family with. For Jesus not to be ashamed to call us brothers and sisters is a remarkable thing. What does it mean, in practice, to be family? What does it not mean (some of the unbiblical ideas we may have)? What does it mean to people from different cultural backgrounds?