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Here are some of the most common questions Pastor Bryan receives, along with his answers to them. Email him and add to the list by asking him whatever questions you have!
Q: "What should I expect at a typical Fusion worship gathering?"
PB: Come to Fusion just as you are. No particular clothing or church experience whatsoever is expected of anyone. We meet in the evening on Sundays and gear the worship gathering toward young adults in their 20’s and 30’s, but is open to anyone no matter their stage of life. We have students, recent grads, singles, marrieds, young families, and even a few senior citizens as regular attenders.
As you enter the building, you’ll be greeted at the door and given a booklet that includes some basic information about what’s going on in the Fusion Community and how to connect into New Hope Church. The worship band will get things moving at 6 p.m. with a variety of music—from traditional and vintage songs that you might also hear in our Sunday morning worship gatherings to newer, alternative and original music from our very own leadership team and congregation as well. We then take time to study Scripture together as Bryan or Paul reflect on a biblical text. We want the Fusion environment to feel casual and contemporary without compromising our central focus on Jesus as our king and rescuer.
Once a month, we have a brief meet-and-greet called “Fuse,” immediately following the evening worship gathering. Fuse is a time for you to get to know Pastors Bryan and Paul, as well as a few other people who lead and serve in the Fusion Community, ask any questions you may have, and learn about more ways to get plugged in to the community if you’d like.
Q: "Is childcare provided?"
PB: Yes! Fusion Kids meets in Room 10 on the lower level and is open to ages 0-6 years. The supervising volunteers have completed and passed a background check and a “Safe Church” safety training program and test.
Q: "Why does it matter where I worship or that I choose to be a part of a specific church?"
PB: The Bible envisions a consistent pattern of gathering and worshiping with other believers as a crucial and indispensible part of growing and maturing as followers of Christ and learning to live the patterns of his life. The Christian life was never meant to be a individual sport. The “body of Christ”--the church gathered together—is meant to love and encourage us toward God’s design for us. God calls the church a "family" and a “body.” Both word pictures indicate a a spirit of close-knit fellowship. Believers are charged to encourage one another, hold each other accountable, partake in the sacraments together, and serve together (Hebrews 10:24, 25). Being a regular contributor to a church not only strengthens you personally but the entire church as a whole. But none of these things happen effectively when we bounce from church to church to church... The most healthy and strong Christ followers in the world make long-term commitments to the family of one local church.
Q: "Why have a separate service for 'young adults?'"
PB: The young adults of today are quickly becoming the leaders of the present and future church. So, training, equipping, and encouraging adults in this specific stage of life is a very important opportunity and responsibility for the health of the church as a whole. We don’t view ourselves as “separate” in any sense from the broader body at New Hope Church—just as, say, the 9:30am worship gathering doesn’t view itself as “separate.” The four Sunday worship gatherings just have differing “flavors,” and each tends to draw in and engage a certain group of people.
Q: "Why are there so many different denominations of churches?"
PB: There are many contributing factors to the existence of various denominations of churches—and those factors are not always bad! They don’t always entail disunity or dislike between followers of Jesus. Many churches have differing convictions and tastes about baptism, or the “spiritual gifts,” or styles of worship and music, etc. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we love each other any less or that we are judging against one another. We are simply acknowledging that worship will be expressed more orderly and effectively within our separate circles of unified belief systems. That can be a healthy and unifying reality to understand.
Q: "Why is it important to be part of a church? Can't
I just do it alone with God if I'm not really into church?"
PB: I totally get this question. Churches can be really
frustrating. So often it seems as though our churches have lost sight
of what the church is supposed to be: a collection of passionate, loving,
encouraging, Christ-centered people who witness to Christ and represent
him on earth. Churches can be prone to division, infighting and "church
politics." Some
churches get too trendy for their own good, and on the other hand some
are entirely unwilling to adapt to the times and the culture.
That being said, what should we expect? Ultimately a church is a collection
of redeemed sinners–broken people made whole and made
powerful by the blood of Christ. If a church was as perfect as I'd like
it to be, I wouldn't belong in it, because I'm so far from perfect! And
so are you.
At the end of the day, God's Word tells us that local church is God's plan
for the spread of the gospel and the expansion of his Kingdom on earth.
The Church is the body of Christ, meaning it serves as his representative
here, continuing to tell the story of his life and death. And the church
is an absolutely essential community for the life, growth and maturity
of the disciple of Christ. No one will reach the maturity and vitality
to which God calls them without being deeply engaged in a local church
community.
Growth may come for a time, but without people who are intimately engaged
and invested in your life, it will eventually come to a halt. New Hope
Church and the Fusion community are working hard to create a community
that fosters life, growth and relationships among Christ's redeemed people.
Q: "What is the Gospel?"
PB: The Gospel is the story of God providing rescue for people and the world that have been deeply wounded by our own sin and rebellion against God. It’s the story of God pouring out his love for us while we are still imperfect and unlovely. God is the perfect and just Creator and King of all. He made us to exist in a deep and personal relationship with Him. However, when our first parents called his goodness into question and rebellion against him, we fell and became slaves to sin and eternally separated from our Father. But God launched a rescue plan to save us from ourselves, to destroy sin and death, and to restore Jesus as the rightful king of the world. Instead of crushing the rebellion against him, Jesus died for the rebels. Instead of destroying his enemies, Jesus bled for his enemies. Instead of destroying us with our evil, Jesus died to destroy evil and bring us a new kind of life.
If you would like to learn more about following Jesus and living in this new kind of life, contact jstahl@newhopechurchmn.org.
Q: "What makes Christianity different from other religions?"
PB: Christianity isn’t a religion. “Religion” tells people all the good things they have to do to reach God. Christianity is about the God who reached down to us. And Christianity doesn’t ask us to make a “leap of faith.” It does not call for me to believe in what I cannot know or what I do not see; it is built on verifiable and rational history, reason, and experience. Unlike other religions, Christianity is the only religion that provides hope rooted in a living, resurrected and knowable God. Christianity provides worth and purpose beyond this life as well as the present. We like to say, “Jesus didn’t just come to bring life after death. He came to bring true life before death.”
Q: "What is the 'Emerging Church' and why are so many people
so upset about it? Why are so many people excited about it?"
PB: Different aspects of what has come to be known as
the "emerging
church movement" are
both exciting and upsetting for various reasons, but it's very difficult
to talk about the movement in broad terms because it's a very diverse movement.
What's exciting about the emerging church movement is that it is trying
hard to engage our postmodern culture (a culture that generally denies that absolute truth exists,
and instead tends to believe that we each manufacture our "own truth" for
ourselves) in ways that are compelling, winsome, and make sense to postmodern
people. The movement also seeks to recapture many of the elements of
church life that have unfortunately been forgotten over the years, such
as corporate prayer, the aesthetic elements of worship, contemplative
practices, and intentional community.
Sadly, however, many 'emerging churches' (particularly those associated
with what is known as "Emergent Village") have taken the endeavor
to be relevant to the postmodern culture to an extreme and have compromised
themselves by calling into question–or by denying outright--some elements
of Christianity that have been viewed as essential since biblical times, such as the divinity of Jesus, his death on the Cross as a substitution
in our place for our sin, the authority and infallibility of God's Word
in the form of the Bible, and the necessity of repentance from sin, conversion
to Christ, and an earnest pursuit of holiness for salvation.
In the Fusion community, we're just not that big into labels. If we look
emerging, call us emerging. But we refuse to sacrifice biblical truth on the altar of relevance. What we are trying to be is a humbly and
historically orthodox, biblical, passionate, missional, outward-faced,
inwardly nurturing community of disciples of Christ, who live, walk and
believe as God has shown us in his Word.
For your reference and convenience, the
NHC website contains many links to external websites and files whose
content may or may not necessarily reflect the beliefs or opinions of
New Hope Church. Our effort is to include only content that helps lead
individuals to God’s truth. To report links which may be inappropriate,
thank you for notifying site
support.
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