Spiritual Conversations Sermon Series

“The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations” by Mary Schaller and John Crilly is a wonderful practical guide for engaging with people about spirituality and learning to see what God is going in their lives. Here at True North Church, we uphold these principles as the primary foundation for how we seek to interact with people in our community!

You can view Pastor Scott’s sermon series based on these arts below.

Share Your Faith Story

in 1 Peter 3:15, the apostle Peter writes, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.”

We are inviting everyone at True North to prepare themselves by sharing their faith stories on Sunday morning. This is a great opportunity to consider what you would say to a non-Christian who expresses interest in your faith.

To help you prepare, we have developed these tips for sharing your faith.

  1. Consider your audience: The purpose of this is to consider what you would say to a non-Christian rather then your Christian friends, so you will want to avoid Christian jargon that may add confusion and try to keep it brief-5 minutes or less
  2. Stay focused on the listener: Sharing your faith story is more about what they need to consider than about what you want to tell. Pay attention to how they respond. Allow them to ask questions and give them time to process on their own
  3. Keep it simple: Highlight Jesus’ willingness to die for ALL people and that there is no one beyond hope.
  4. Give your reasons: Your personal faith story can be impactful and insightful. Answer these questions:
    1. How did you come to faith in Jesus?
    2. What are the biggest 1-2 reasons you continue to put your hope in Him in day?

Walking Together on the Journey

The life of faith in Jesus is a journey meant to be taken in relationship with others. In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul describes the church as a body made up of many parts. He writes,

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. “

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

The church is meant to be an interdependent group of people bound together by the Holy Spirit through their faith in Jesus Christ. No matter how gifted or well-trained any one person is, they cannot accomplish the purposes or bear responsibility for the church on their own. Every person in the church depends upon the others in some way.

At True North we seek to embrace this biblical truth that every person has a valuable role to play in the life of the church. Those in full-time ministry are not more important than the rest of the church-we are all ministers of the Gospel. Not all roles are the same, but we all learn from and depend upon one another to mature, to persevere, and to share God’s love with our community.

We want every member to have opportunities to develop their unique, God-given skills and contribute to the work we do together as the church. We do not want to simply fit people into the existing, predefined activities of the church, but rather allow them to explore ways they can best help us pursue the overall vision for the church.

In all we do together, our goal is to work together in the “more excellent way” Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. We work together in love for God and one another because “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7).

In his “Exploring Our Foundations” sermon series, Pastor Scott describes what we mean by Walking Together on the Journey.

Serving In Love

A big part of following Jesus is learning to serve others the way Jesus did. He said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).

Jesus also commands us to be motivated by love in all we do; first for God then for one another. At True North, we strive to do just that. As we invite people to engage in all the activity of being a church; we emphasize that love for God and one another is the motive. If obligation is what drives us, we quickly burn out. If we serve out of selfish ambition, we are no longer following Jesus.

Come discover both the joy and patient endurance that come from serving the Lord in love. Feel free to contact us or come visit us for one of our Sunday worship services.

In his “Exploring Our Foundations” sermon series, Pastor Scott describes what we mean by Serving In Love.

Extending Grace

Every person has to face this reality declared in Romans 3:23 : “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In one way or another, we have all ignored God’s will for us and chosen to go our own way.

But, because of Jesus, our sin doesn’t have to define us or be a source of ongoing shame. Jesus came to give up His life for each of us. His death was the payment we deserved for our sin against God, and He did this so we could be set free from the burden of sin and choose to live freely for God instead!

This is what “grace” is! Grace being given something you don’t deserve. None of us can ever do enough to earn God’s forgiveness once and for all, so instead Jesus paid the price for us instead.

Here at True North, we would love to meet you, tell you more about God’s grace, and show you the same kind of grace God has so abundantly given to us! Feel free to contact us or come visit us for one of our Sunday worship services.

In his “Exploring Our Foundations” sermon series, Pastor Scott describes what we mean by Extending Grace.

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