In an effort to bring some definition to our language that we use around RADIUS Church, here are some words, phrases and ways to talk about common items that are presented during our “Announcement” slot during our weekly services. These words and phrases are not meant to be prescriptive, but instead, are meant to help add clarity and bring a more common language / phrasing to how we address these items.
Connect Cards
Connect cards are a conversation starter. They are a place where you can give us as much or as little information about yourself as you are comfortable with, but they are also the best way to let us know how we can pray for you. We consider it an honor to pray for you and we take these prayer requests seriously. We do our best to follow-up each week with any that we receive. If your life is in a ditch (or on a mountaintop), the Connect Card is the best way to let us know. Cards can be dropped in the boxes (barrel) in the back of the room as you leave or at any point during the service today.
Discovery
Discovery is the first step in becoming a Covenant Partner at RADIUS Church. It’s an informal 1-hour opportunity for us to tell you about the history, mission and vision of RADIUS Church and for you to ask your questions. We’ll cover topics like: “What are We Here For?” “How are we Led?” and “Who Does What?”. We typically host Discovery (enter your date / frequency) This is a great way for you to find out if RADIUS Church is the place you’d like to call home.
Covenant Partnership
Covenant Partnership is our term for church membership. We decided early on that we wanted to use a term other than membership for our church family because in today’s culture the word membership has a strong tie to gym or country club memberships that are equated with receiving goods or services. For our covenant partners we want the exact opposite to be true. We want our Partners to serve others and be generous toward the local church and those in our radius. The phrase Covenant Partner was chosen because it helps us better define how our church family relates to one another. We have covenanted together to be on mission together, seek to make disciples, plant churches and to be extravagantly generous.
Baptism
Baptism is a public declaration that you have decided to follow Jesus. The Church has practiced it for over 2000 years as a way to confess publicly a love and allegiance to King Jesus. It is a great next step in discipleship if you’ve never been publicly baptized (or if you were baptized earlier in life and were not completely sure of what it meant at the time). We host several baptism Sundays each year and would love to see you take these opportunities to show your love for (and obedience to) Jesus as the Lord and Master of your life.
RADIUS Groups
We were not meant to live the Christian life in isolation. God created us for community. Groups are the best way to get to know others and to be known by others at RADIUS Church. As our church continues to grow larger in numbers, it is important that we continually strive to make it ‘grow smaller’ by being in intentional, regular community with one another. Groups are the place where we can practice the “one another” commands found throughout the New Testament (ie. “Bear one another’s burdens,” “love one another,” etc.). We realize that opening yourself up to others can be scary, but we ask you to be brave and join a group!
Communion
We offer the Lord’s Supper each week in our services. Most weeks we make it available at tables at the front or rear of the room for you to take during the reflective worship that follows the message. We want to make it available each week so that you can take the opportunity to reflect on your need for a Savior and on Jesus’ mercy toward us in bearing our sins and taking on our punishment from the Father. However, there are a few Sundays each year where was participate in the Lord’s Supper together as a church family. On these special Sundays we will take collectively as we work through the meaning of communion. While participation is not compulsory, if you are a follower of Jesus, regularly participating in the Lord’s Supper is a great discipline to practice.
Giving
We believe that Christians are called to be a cheerfully generous people. We do not pass a plate during our services because we do not want anyone to give out of compulsion or coercion. We strive to make Jesus famous in our community and around the world and your generosity helps us accomplish that. There are several ways you can participate in giving to the mission and vision of RADIUS Church – in-person via the boxes / barrel at the back of the room each week, on our website, or through our mobile app.