At MRC we don’t believe in turning inward as a church but turning outward and helping other people experience God’s love through serving in our community. So you won’t see a ton of programs and activities at MRC which is very intentional. This can be confusing to someone who comes from a church background, because it looks a little different. Many people go inward trying to find themselves, which becomes a never ending chase for something that Jesus would say isn’t going to be found that way…
Matthew 10:39-42
39 If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me. MSG
Do you see it? It may take time for you to see it or even feel like engaging anything more than a Sunday morning service and that is ok, but in the end we want to empower you to serve…to engage something bigger than yourself! It’s about getting to a spot where we are able to love God, and love others and help connect others with the love that is changing us. In joining this greater mission you grow in ways you didn’t know you could. You find community, relationships, meaning, and most importantly God. It happens as we forget about ourselves and look to Him. Ok now you may be thinking “Well, how will I ever learn the Bible, and ‘how to stuff’ of Christianity?” Don’t worry, we will help you there too. It’s all there for you when you are ready. Just remember when we serve we find more than we ever dreamed of! We find ourselves. We find our purpose. We find life and life to the full, which Jesus told you He came to provide for you. It’s all about love! It’s outward not inward. We want you out engaging your culture! Loving and serving others who need to know and experience the love and grace that we are experiencing! This is what we do, we love God and we love others as best we can. The Bible says that when we show this love we literally show God to this world:
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. NIV
So how do we show God to this world? We love! Here’s an idea of what we do:
- We plant churches.
- We support local churches and leaders and celebrate what they are doing to connect people to Jesus and believe we are better together!
- We engage our community and encourage you to serve local ministries like New Hope and Paxton Street Homes who are doing such great work already in our community.
- We engage our community by encouraging you to love your neighbor.