The Church: An Intergenerational Family

This past weekend at Eastbrook Church, I began a two-part reflection on the nature of the church. My working title for this series is “The Multi-Everything Church,” which is an outworking of our vision to become a Revelation 7:9-10 type of church with attention to some other aspects beyond multi-ethnicity. This weekend’s message looks at the image of the church as an intergenerational family, where we are all equally children of God by simple faith, yet also embracing the entire church, young and old, as having a place of belonging and value. I spent a bit of time talking about the problems with the frameworks of generational thinking, calling us to a deeper grasp of Jesus’ prayer for unity and call to love.

You can view the message video and sermon outline below. You can follow the entire series at our web-site, through the Eastbrook app, or through our audio podcast.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

The Church: Existing in and Becoming like Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 4:11-16)

A community created in Jesus

A community becoming more like Jesus

The Church: Called to Unity and Love (John 17:20-21; 13:34-35)

Unity as the prayer of Jesus for God’s people

Love as the defining characteristic of God’s people

The Church: An Intergenerational Family (Galatians 4:4-6; Matthew 18:3; 1 John 2:12-14)

Brought into God’s family by Jesus

Marked by the Spirit for adoption into God’s family

Living under Father God as His family

Interdependent living as a faith family