Core Community Church of Omaha

As you know, we recently announced a historic change and transition for our church: this Sunday our church will be merging with Coram Deo Church Community.  After months of prayer and years of God’s providence, our elder team affirms that this is God’s work and we give praise to God for this.  With the coming together of two churches, there will be some difference in Children’s Ministry, as you might expect.  Here is some important information for you to keep and remember:

#1 // We need your help! If your child participates in Children’s Ministry, we need you to jump in and help.  Please read the rest of this with the mindset of, “How can I help?”  Then please get in touch with me so that I can get a background authorization form to you and connect you with Coram Deo Kids’ leaders.  Thanks!

#2 // This Sunday, September 25, will be a very unique Sunday. We will only have 1 gathering, at 10am at Westside Middle School.  For this Sunday only, childcare will ONLY be provided for ages 0-3.  If your children are older than 3, please bring them into the worship gathering with you.  This will be a powerful time of unity together and praise to God, and we want your children to be a part of that!  This is something you will be telling your kids about for years to come, something only God can bring about.

#3 // Beginning Sunday, October 2, the full Coram Deo Kids should be in effect. The age and class breakdowns are different from what you experience now, so please take careful note:

• Nursery (0-16 Months) // will be divided into mobile and non-mobile infants within the room; Please note that previous Core’s nursery did not provide care until your child was 6 months; this has changed, and you can now place your child in care as early as newborn.
• Little Toddlers (16-24 Months)
• Big Toddlers (2 year olds)
• 3 Year Olds
• 4 Year Olds
• 5-6 Year Olds; Please note this is slightly different from the original FAQ Packet you received.
• 7-8 Year Olds; Please note this is slightly different from the original FAQ Packet you received.

When you arrive at Westside Middle School on Sundays you will see signs directing you to the appropriate classroom.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I would be glad to help.  Before September 30, you can reach me best at doug @ corecommunity . org.  After September 30, you can reach me best at doug @ cdomaha . com.

Justin Taylor points to an excellent resource for marrieds and singles to consider.  If you are single and wondering how you might live out the gospel in a church that is booming with young families, I encourage you to read this work.  If you are a young family who wonders how you can live out the gospel with singles, I encourage you to read this work.  Enough from me; here is Justin’s post:

It’s worth noting that [singleness] is a subject where biblical theology can be enormously helpful, and no one has done more insightful work on the issue from this angle than Barry Danylak in Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the Single Life (Crossway, 2010). It may be worth reprinting again John Piper’s foreword, which provides a helpful summary:

The greatest, wisest, most fully human person who has ever lived, never married. Jesus Christ. His greatest apostle never married, and was thankful for his singleness. Jesus himself said, that in the age to come we do not marry. And he added that the age to come had already broken into this world.

Therefore, the presence of single people in the church not only “attests the sufficiency of Christ for the reception of God’s covenantal blessings in the new covenant,” but also reminds us “that the spiritual age has already been inaugurated in Christ and awaits imminent consummation.”

When I met Barry Danylak at Tyndale House in Cambridge, England, in the summer of 2006, I was amazed at the research he was doing on a biblical theology of singleness. Not only was the scope of it unprecedented, but the theological and practical insights struck me as biblically compelling and practically urgent. I don’t know of anyone else who has ever provided the extent of biblical reflection on singleness that Barry has provided for us here.

Both marriage and singleness demand the most serious and solid biblical insight. These are realities that affect every area of our life and thought. We cannot settle for superficial pep talks. Our lives cry out for significance. And significance comes from seeing ourselves the way God sees us. Including our singleness. My guess is that virtually every single who reads this book will finish with a sense of wonder at who they are, and how little they knew about this gift and calling.

Barry is keenly aware of the progress of redemptive history and its stunning implications for the single life. Early in that history, marriage and physical children were fundamental to the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant. But they are not fundamental to the New Covenant the way they were then. And what is beautiful about the way Barry develops this historical flow is that the glory of Jesus Christ is exalted above all things.

Barry elevates but does not absolutize the calling of the single life. It’s greatness lies in this: “It is a visible reminder that the kingdom of God points to a reality which stands beyond worldly preoccupations of marriage, family and career.” Indeed. And that greater reality is the all-satisfying, everlasting friendship of Jesus himself in the new heavens and the new earth. Marriage and singleness will be transcended, and Christ himself will make those categories obsolete in the joy of his presence. A life of joyful singleness witnesses to this.

One of my favorite things to do is talk about Jesus and sing about Jesus with my family.  Where else can Luke Skywalker, Superman, and Jesus Christ all converge in a life-changing discourse followed by imaginary flaming swords and the frequent reminder to hurry up and finish our food?  For my family, most conversations about Jesus take place at the dinner table.  For other families, it is different.

Recently, I found three blog posts though-provoking and helpful as I considered our family enjoying Jesus together.  I hope you do, too.

1. 11 Reasons to Worship With your Family
2. The What, When, and How of Family Worship
3. Practical Ideas for Family Worship, from Mars Hill Church

There are more and more Home Communities in Core which include both married couples and singles (and children among both!).  We are excited about these integrating dynamics because it gives us an opportunity to build unity around the gospel and not merely around a stage of life.  Yet, at the same time, it begs the question: how can married couples relate to singles?  And how can singles relate to married couples?  What was this like in the early churches?

The pattern in the New Testament letters references many commands related to community that make no mention of married people or single people.  For example, consider…

• bearing with and forgiving one another (Colossians 3:13),
• teaching and admonishing one another (Colossians 3:16),
• being kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32), and
• bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

In so many ways, both singles and married persons share a common family and a common deepest covenantal union with Jesus.  Yet, the pattern in the New Testament letters also points to the uniqueness of the marriage covenant.  Married persons are distinct enough from singles to receive specifically targeted portions of letters from the apostles (Colossians 3:18-25; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Peter 3:1-7).

A particularly helpful distinction can be seen in Paul’s letter to Ephesus when he addresses submission.

1. He gives all Christians – both single and married – the command to submit to one another.  Therefore, in living this out, singles could quite possibly help married couples understand gospel-centered submission.
2. Yet, Paul goes on to speak specifically of how wives and husbands submit to and lead one another.  Clearly, there is a distinct submission within the bounds of the covenant of marriage.  For a single person who has never married, they have not experienced this in an earthly manner.  Marriage is unique, and just might require experienced counsel.
3. Yet still further, Paul points the church to the higher reality of marriage, which is Christ as the husband to the church.  So, oddly enough, singles have experienced (and maybe even more profoundly!) the unique submission that is required in marriage.  It is just that they have experienced it in the deepest covenantal union with Christ.

The answer lies in which covenantal relationship bears supremacy.  Is it this earthly marriage (which is truly beautiful and profound so much so that two persons become one), or is it the divine marriage between Christ and his church?  My sense is that when Christ’s divine marriage is seen in its supremacy it actually retains the uniqueness of earthly marriage, gives earthly marriage value, and empowers singles to counsel couples and couples to counsel singles.

Uniquely, singles can help married persons understand…

• Our deepest identity is in Jesus – not our spouse (1 Corinthians 7:17).
• The return of Jesus is imminent and life-altering (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).
• That Christ is better than sex (1 Corinthians 7:2).  Paul admits that the temptation to sex is so strong it might merit getting married.  Singles who practice self-control are reminders to married persons that union with Christ is even better than sexual union with a spouse.

Uniquely, married persons can help singles understand…

• Their covenantal union with Christ by giving a tangible, visible expression of Christ’s relation to his church (Ephesians 5:32).
• A greater appreciation for Christ’s incarnation and willingness to marry the church.  Strangely, Paul says a married man takes on worldly troubles (1 Corinthians 7:33-34).  If this is true for a sinful man, how much more so for Jesus Christ.  He did not count equality with God something to be held on to, but he came to win his church taking on trouble after trouble after trouble.  Therefore, when Christian couples are graciously honest about the added burdens of marriage, they can actually be pointing singles to the enduring love of Jesus who chose to take on the greatest of burdens in his marriage – to singles and to married persons.

As my son grows older, I have begun to notice his ability to talk more about Jesus, church, friends, relationships, and (of course) Star Wars.  As a dad I am always looking for resources for how to engage with my children concerning the gospel and life events.  I found both of the following blog posts very helpful as I consider the next ten to twenty years as a parent:

• How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex, my Mark and Grace Driscoll
• 8 Tips for Talking to Kids About the Sermon, by Joe Holland

Parents, let me encourage you to talk with your children.  You don’t have to have all the answers before you start talking.  Find a way to start talking.  I hope these two posts help towards the end of parents making disciples who make disciples who make disciples for Jesus.

Brad Baugham, a church planter in South Carolina, recently preached and wrote on intentionally discipling children according to who they are – not just what they do.  In other words, their identities shape our view of them for than their outward actions.  The Bible states clearly that children are sinners (Genesis 8:21; Psalm 58:3), and they are dearly loved image-bearers of God (Psalm 127:3; Genesis 1:27-28).  So how does that affect the way that parents disciple them?  His practical applications are helpful.  Read it here.

One of the most powerful moments I had in preparing to preach John 1:19-36 was when I realized that John the Baptizer actually quoted a Bible verse when someone asked him who he was.  I can’t remember one single time that I have ever quoted a Bible verse when asked who I am.  So I was riveted by John’s quick referral to Scripture.  How did he get there?  How was the Bible so deeply rooted in Him that it naturally landed on his lips in a pressure situation?  He wasn’t quoting a coffee bug or bumper sticker Christian cliche.  He was quoting an appropriately contextualized Bible verse.

After considering it and researching it, I finally landed on the fact that John’s parents must have taught him the Bible.  In the sermon I offered 4 suggestions for parents to consider, but I also wanted to point to some great writing from J.C. Ryle, an Anglican bishop in the 19th century.  Here are five excellent gatherings of his teaching on children:

1. Training Your Child to Love God Depends on You
2. Training Your Child Means Watching Over Their Soul
3. Training Your Child to Know the Bible
4. Training Your Child to Have a Habit of Prayer
5. Training Your Child to Love the Church and the Lord’s Supper