in a state of Metaphoria
WE ARE A GARDEN, LAB, LAUNCH PAD, AND STARFISH
GARDEN
Grow together
God plants us, waters us, shines on us, and breathes into us – creating growth and fruitful lives. In the garden we heal, raise our branches in worship, and share life with friends who encourage and challenge us. Our gatherings are interactive and social with an emphasis on forming close, healing friendships while following Christ together.
LAB
Learn by doing
Each true follower of Jesus is a minister and missionary. We challenge and encourage all followers of Jesus to live life boldly, as He did. You have permission to experiment – with a freedom to fail. Courageous creativity is celebrated. We fully realize we are Made for More when we step up and step out.
LAUNCHPAD
Adventure awaits
You've already been sent. Your family is on mission where you already do life. As the future home base for Forge Minneapolis, we will offer a 9-month mission trip that helps your family launch into God's mission for your life. Additionally, we launch new works with ordinary Jesus people into people groups God's love compels us to be with.
STARFISH
multiply
Each piece of a starfish has the full potential of a new starfish.
The church is a living organism that grows through multiplication. God multiplies His church as we grow in the garden, learn in the lab, and launch out and go.
HOW WE DO IT
Love God and actually love our neighbors
Train and send ordinary people to live like Jesus where they already do life
Operate where people congregate
Be friends with sinners
Start churches and ministries for social communities that have sufficient relational magnetism
4 Things we believe about you
1) You were Created to Create
You have great ideas and the ability to make them into reality. You were made for more. Each Create Community is a safe, fun place to discover your gifts and make your life count.
2) You Don't want Friendly, You want Friends
The person making your latte is friendly, but does that entice you to jump over the counter and become a barista? We all want real friends, and we are more likely to make connections when we have more the most important values in common.
3) You are courageous
God is looking for the intrepid, not the timid. Let's boldly go bring light to the darkness. Leave the lethargy alone and be who you were made to be. Help turn your God-given dreams into city-changing realities.
4) You are an artist
God is an artist, and so are you. We believe art and beauty unlock our brains to understand God's heart and his truths. We like to use performing arts to tell stories, capture heart, and inspire imagination. Are you an artist? Explore why God gave you your gift by using it with Him. After all, EARTH – ART = EH
“...we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.”
5 Things we do
1) learn with style
So, it turns out that lectures are not the most effective tools to encourage learning – especially character-growth learning. We are designed for social, tactile, experiential learning – where growing becomes natural. Studies have shown that we are able to make positive changes when we are in a supportive and safe environment – simply put, we get better when we growing among friends.
2) own up to the missteps and go Back to the Beginning
If you've ever read the Bible you've probably wondered how amazing the others-focused, community-minded, relationally-motivated, informally-gathering, participation-oriented Jesus movement was in the first century. The first followers of Jesus met in medium sized groups in various places both private and public. They shared their lives together, ate together, and believed Jesus was the head of the church. They encouraged and taught each other.
Did you know that since that time, much of the evolution of the church took place at the request of government rulers (e.g. Constantine) and people without access to the Bible. No wonder Christian history is riddled with misrepresentations of Jesus. Jesus was not into religious rules, oppression of women, silencing of children, and separation from sinners.
At Create Church communities, we love to be in social spaces and fun places – we like to be around people, not cloistered away. We go to engage people with the life and love of Jesus. We're proud to be students of His life and live under his mentorship.
3) Be Small enough to CARE, big enough to DARE
We are always looking to send out new teams to start new communities so we can stay small. We are finding the great social size for each church to be about 20-120 people – any more and there isn't the freedom to try out our gifts in a extended-family-like supportive environment. We are nimble, agile, inventive, daring, and small enough to know and care for each person.
4) follow Jesus ways, not just His truths
We read the Bible 1 chapter a day because it opens our eyes to see things God's way. We are driven to follow Jesus better every year as we read His story. We could go on and on about how important this is, but it's better for you to just find out for yourself.
Join our one-chapter-a-day reading plan here and learn how to stop reading the Bible the wrong way
5) Have LEARNERS for Leaders
We do have staff, but it's not all about them. They aren't perfect. Their feet smell. Sometimes they start fires trying to make pancakes. Yes, it can be done.
Our leaders are learners, just like you. They are most of all servants. Simply followers of Jesus daring to live out the teachings of Jesus with a community of friends.
