Chapin Student Community http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:44:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 The Light… http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/29/the-light/ http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/29/the-light/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:44:33 +0000 Tim Walker We learned this week that God is light and in Him there is no darkness (no sin)! This is a truth that we have known for a long time (that God is perfect). We also examined that if we claim to have fellowship with Him (being a Christian) yet walk in darkness (living in sin) we lie. This was/is very convicting for anyone that may be living a particular sinful life. John is very blunt in telling us that we lie and we do not have fellowship with Christ.
Question: God has called us to be in fellowship with the Light (with Christ). Also, Christ told us that we are the light of the world. How can we be light to those around us? What are some practical ways to be Light (to be Jesus) to those we go to school with/work with? Think about the illustration we saw on Sunday night with Carolyn and Jay...they were in darkness, but those who were in the light helped them out...pointed the way. Andy Davis said something Sunday night very enlightening. When asked what would happen if no one help Carolyn or Jay, Andy said, "They would probably hit a counter or something." That's absolutely right. When we're living in sin, we are going to run into things and we will get hurt...we will hurt ourselves, hurt others, hurt our student ministry and so on. For example, if you are sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you are hurting more people than you think. You are hurting your partner and your partner's future spouse if that's not you (and more than likely it won't be you), you are hurting your relationship with God (obviously) and you are hurting yourself...giving away something that you can't take back. Walking in darkness hurts and we are called to be the light of the world... and we can't do that while in darkness. So what's left but to say, "GO BE LIGHT!!!"
 ]]> We learned this week that God is light and in Him there is no darkness (no sin)! This is a truth that we have known for a long time (that God is perfect). We also examined that if we claim to have fellowship with Him (being a Christian) yet walk in darkness (living in sin) we lie. This was/is very convicting for anyone that may be living a particular sinful life. John is very blunt in telling us that we lie and we do not have fellowship with Christ.
Question: God has called us to be in fellowship with the Light (with Christ). Also, Christ told us that we are the light of the world. How can we be light to those around us? What are some practical ways to be Light (to be Jesus) to those we go to school with/work with? Think about the illustration we saw on Sunday night with Carolyn and Jay…they were in darkness, but those who were in the light helped them out…pointed the way. Andy Davis said something Sunday night very enlightening. When asked what would happen if no one help Carolyn or Jay, Andy said, “They would probably hit a counter or something.” That’s absolutely right. When we’re living in sin, we are going to run into things and we will get hurt…we will hurt ourselves, hurt others, hurt our student ministry and so on. For example, if you are sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you are hurting more people than you think. You are hurting your partner and your partner’s future spouse if that’s not you (and more than likely it won’t be you), you are hurting your relationship with God (obviously) and you are hurting yourself…giving away something that you can’t take back. Walking in darkness hurts and we are called to be the light of the world… and we can’t do that while in darkness. So what’s left but to say, “GO BE LIGHT!!!”
]]> http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/29/the-light/feed/ The Koinonia Lounge http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/22/the-koinonia-lounge/ http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/22/the-koinonia-lounge/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:26:36 +0000 Tim Walker Some may be wondering what this blog site is about...it's a chance for us to continue our conversations that we had on Sunday or to bring up new questions and issues to discuss.  It's actually a chance to build up our koinonia with each other (see below if you weren't here on Sunday).  Use this to ask questions, bring your comments, and discuss among other Christians (and even non-Christians).
    Koinonia - Do you think that our Student Ministries exibit that of koinonia?  If you were not at MPulse on Sunday night you might be wondering..."What in the world is a koinonia?"  Sorry for you that were there, but here's a quick review.  We started 1 John on Sunday and we looked at the first 4 verses.  In verse 3, John tells us that he is proclaiming this so that we may have fellowship with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ and also with each other.  That word fellowship is the greek word koinonia.  The meaning is an "intimate bond between human beings," "a participation or sharing in" and "to have something in common."  We talked on Sunday night about the one thing that we all have in common as Christians is Jesus Christ, therefore we should live in koinonia with each other.  But our koinonia is not just with each other, but more importantly with the Father and Son (Jesus Christ).  Lastly we discussed that the Christian Fellowship (koinonia) is triangular (three sides): 1) my life in fellowship with Christ, 2) your life in fellowship with Christ, and 3) my life in fellowship with yours.
    Now, back to my original question..."Do you think that our Student Ministries exibit that of koinonia?"  If so, how? If not, why and how can we do better with this?  If the one thing that we all have in common is that of Jesus Christ...then when a visitor comes to our church, they should see the love of Jesus in us and feel welcome and invited.  How are we doing with this?  Are we giving up our time with our friends and being intentional about reaching out to the visitors.  Being intentional means that we get out of our routine and go over and do something that we may not do otherwise.  Are we making sure that the visitors are not eating alone?  Are we making sure that we sit beside them downstairs or even better giving up our seats?  Are we telling them that we are glad that they came and ask them to come back?  Or are we selective in who we talk to?  Do we have our clicks and they are the only one's we talk to?
    Living this life of koinonia is sometimes (actually often times) hard to do.  But if you are a Christian, then this is something that you are called to do...living the life of fellowship with Christ and one another.
    Lastly, if our Student Ministries truly exibits that of koinonia, then I think an appropriate name for our "student lounge" is "The Koinonia Lounge."  A place where Christian fellowship takes place...just a thought.
 ]]> Some may be wondering what this blog site is about…it’s a chance for us to continue our conversations that we had on Sunday or to bring up new questions and issues to discuss.  It’s actually a chance to build up our koinonia with each other (see below if you weren’t here on Sunday).  Use this to ask questions, bring your comments, and discuss among other Christians (and even non-Christians).
    Koinonia - Do you think that our Student Ministries exibit that of koinonia?  If you were not at MPulse on Sunday night you might be wondering…”What in the world is a koinonia?“  Sorry for you that were there, but here’s a quick review.  We started 1 John on Sunday and we looked at the first 4 verses.  In verse 3, John tells us that he is proclaiming this so that we may have fellowship with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ and also with each other.  That word fellowship is the greek word koinonia.  The meaning is an “intimate bond between human beings,” “a participation or sharing in” and “to have something in common.”  We talked on Sunday night about the one thing that we all have in common as Christians is Jesus Christ, therefore we should live in koinonia with each other.  But our koinonia is not just with each other, but more importantly with the Father and Son (Jesus Christ).  Lastly we discussed that the Christian Fellowship (koinonia) is triangular (three sides): 1) my life in fellowship with Christ, 2) your life in fellowship with Christ, and 3) my life in fellowship with yours.
    Now, back to my original question…”Do you think that our Student Ministries exibit that of koinonia?”  If so, how? If not, why and how can we do better with this?  If the one thing that we all have in common is that of Jesus Christ…then when a visitor comes to our church, they should see the love of Jesus in us and feel welcome and invited.  How are we doing with this?  Are we giving up our time with our friends and being intentional about reaching out to the visitors.  Being intentional means that we get out of our routine and go over and do something that we may not do otherwise.  Are we making sure that the visitors are not eating alone?  Are we making sure that we sit beside them downstairs or even better giving up our seats?  Are we telling them that we are glad that they came and ask them to come back?  Or are we selective in who we talk to?  Do we have our clicks and they are the only one’s we talk to?
    Living this life of koinonia is sometimes (actually often times) hard to do.  But if you are a Christian, then this is something that you are called to do…living the life of fellowship with Christ and one another.
    Lastly, if our Student Ministries truly exibits that of koinonia, then I think an appropriate name for our “student lounge” is “The Koinonia Lounge.”  A place where Christian fellowship takes place…just a thought.
]]> http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/22/the-koinonia-lounge/feed/ Welcome to the new blog!!! http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/16/welcome-to-the-new-blog/ http://chapinstudentcommunity.blog.com/2008/04/16/welcome-to-the-new-blog/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:25:05 +0000 Tim Walker Hello, welcome to the Chapin United Methodist Church Student Community Blog!  This is new for me and please hang in there as I try to figure everything out.  If any of you are experts at this, please feel free to help me.  The purpose of this site is for us to build community and to further discuss anything that was talked about at MPulse on Sunday nights.  We can also post announcements or other information on here.  I'll try to post something every Monday or Tuesday that relates to the topic at MPulse.

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Hello, welcome to the Chapin United Methodist Church Student Community Blog!  This is new for me and please hang in there as I try to figure everything out.  If any of you are experts at this, please feel free to help me.  The purpose of this site is for us to build community and to further discuss anything that was talked about at MPulse on Sunday nights.  We can also post announcements or other information on here.  I’ll try to post something every Monday or Tuesday that relates to the topic at MPulse.

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