Learning to Live God's Word

While it should be every church's and every Christian's focus every single day to learn to live God's Word, Providence wants to hone in on learning to live God's Word in 2020. Specifically, we want to emphasize obeying God's Word, praying God's Word, and proclaiming God's Word in 2020.

Obey: Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that we are not saved by good works, but Paul, in the very next verse, also makes it clear that we are created for good works. Our good works please God, glorify God, and bless others. Here are just a few ways that our church is corporately seeking to obey God’s Word in 2020:

• Scripture Reading: As a church we are electively reading the same psalm each day. (To follow along, please request a Learning to Live God’s Word Scripture Reading and Memorization Card.)
• Scripture Memorization: As a church, we are electively memorizing the same Scripture passage each week. (To follow along, please request a Learning to Live God’s Word Scripture Reading and Memorization Card.)
• Corporate Worship: For 2020 and beyond, we are committed to saturating our corporate worship with God’s Word by singing the Bible, seeing the Bible (Communion), praying the Bible, and preaching the Bible.

Pray: In the Christian life, prayer is breathing. And even a cursory reading of the book of Acts reveals the prevalence and importance of corporate prayer in the life of the early church. (For example, see Acts 1:12-26; 2:42-47; 4:23-31; 6:1-6; 12:1-5; 13:1-3). Therefore, Providence is committed to praying together in the following ways:

• Sunday Evening Prayer and Praise Service: Every Sunday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., we meet together for an intimate time of congregational singing, prayer, and a brief devotion from God’s Word.
• Corporate Worship: We have purposed not to treat prayer as bookends to our corporate worship, merely praying at the beginning and ending of our time together. Instead, we make sure that we pray together as a church throughout the entire service.

Proclaim: Jesus has commissioned His Church to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations and to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth so that the nations be glad (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Psalm 67:4, 7). It’s our desire to do the work of an evangelist and spread the gospel:

• Personal Evangelism: Jesus did not say to go and bring the world to church but for the church to go into the world and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. We want to develop and foster a church culture in which every person is equipped to share the gospel and, then, does so.
• Corporate Evangelism: Providence will organize various evangelistic efforts such as going door-to-door, serving the homeless and sharing the gospel with them, Christmas caroling and handing out evangelistic literature, and other corporate evangelistic efforts.
• Corporate Worship: It’s our priority to clearly present the gospel in every sermon that takes place every time we meet together corporately as God’s people.