At Revolution we won’t be secretive: We’re about having a relationship with God – Jesus Christ. If you’re looking for a place that will be shy, hiding what they believe this probably isn’t it. We will be authentic about what we believe and why we believe it. That’s right: the why is extremely important. We don’t mind asking questions – we encourage it.
Also, we aren’t about pointing fingers when someone does something wrong … if we were, we’d end up pointing at ourselves quite a bit. We believe in UNTAMED MERCY. Forgiveness, no matter what!
And to be completely honest, we acknowledge that church is usually boring – but the fact is God is amazing! The creator of the universe actually cares about you and me! Considering that, why should we have dull services that make us dislike church? If someone disagrees with us about a belief or a lifesytle or anything, we don’t hate them – we just say, “Great, let’s talk about this! Let’s figure it out.”
“If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ” (Matthew 6:14-15)
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22)
“Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” (Jude 2)
If you ever find the perfect Church, don’t go. You’ll screw it up. – Anonymous.
Want to know more about untamed mercy? Watch the sermon here:
After our Church had been in existence for a year and a half, we realize we had a problem. We were doing a lot of work, with little results. So we set out to refocus our Church in a way that could have a much greater impact.
We studied numerous materials, but one of the best was a book by Andy Stanley titled, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. The first practice (“clarify the win”) affected our mindsets immensely. So the first thing we did as a Church was define our main goal – or decide what the “win” would be. After a few months of praying, debating, struggling, getting angry, resolving problems, laughing and even some crying we settled on a goal that every single board member was in high spirits about.
Our win was defined, and we had a goal:
Healthy Christian Community.
Every time someone from Revolution Church enters into a healthy Christian community we win! Put a point on the scoreboard and pop open the non-alcoholic Champaign because anytime someone joins a healthy Christian community we just accomplished our goal again!
We chose this because:
- The best way to grow in Spiritual maturity is in the context of relationships with other Christians.
- The best way to have a stronger stance in your faith is to join a community of believers also standing strong.
- The easiest way to understand God’s word is to learn alongside brothers and sisters in Christ.
- And many more reasons!
For the Christian, community isn’t an option it is a way of life. This is how God designed it: Adam needed Eve, Jesus sent disciples out in pairs, the New Testament contains a plethora of letters written to groups rather than individuals, and even Jesus himself was comforted at different times by other beings! Furthermore, one of the best ways to introduce Christ into the lives of non-Christians is by helping them to see our communities – or even inviting them in to experience the love and joy of Christ firsthand! We are created for community. Therefore, healthy Christian communities will be our church’s goal.
Growth Groups are small groups of people (usually 5-12) who meet at someone’s home. They usually study questions based off the sermon, but often start with some food and hanging out. It’s kind of like going to a friend’s house, and then learning about God. Growth groups meet once a week, for 12-weeks.
While Sunday morning sermons teach us a lot about God, it’s only part “A”. Growth Groups are “part B” of our Church. They are usually the best place to share and learn! The sermon, on Sunday, starts by giving great information and truth about God, but in Growth groups you can go so much deeper while having a conversation in a comfortable, friendly setting! Growth groups challenge each other to live out what we learn, take care of each other when needs arise, and form genuine community of people who care.
Music is vitally important at Revolution. It can help to further relationships with God while at the same time making this clear so we can understand things in a deeper way. Because of these reasons we strive to have the best music we can.
Style: Rock and electronic.
We’ll be honest, it’s kinda loud. If you prefer soft piano music, this probably won’t be for you. But, if you don’t mind some bass thumping, guitars jamming, and a cymbals crashing while we sing about Jesus and his power – the music might work for ya!
Revolution will always focus on reaching people who haven’t been to Church, or who don’t really know Jesus yet. We want to help people who don’t have a Spiritual family find a Spiritual family! If that’s you, we want hope you’ll experience the love of Christ now, and have a great eternity.
We are not interested in simply “shuffling the saints” (getting Christians from other Churches to attend here). We often try to help people work out issues with the Churches they came from. Not that people can’t come here from other Churches, they can, but it should be seriously considered since leaving a Church is a big deal.
But, our primary focus will always be on the people who aren’t currently attending Church. So the way we do everything will help inform and influence that.
There will always be new Christians in our Church, and as you grow it will be important to remember that you were a new Christian once too! This means that once you become a Christian, you should work on maturing so that you will be able to help other new Christians.
We believe that truth is, truth. This is why we spend a lot of time at Revolution talking about the evidence for Christianity, and not just how we feel at the moment.