because afternoon church is awesome
Sozo Community is a church in East Nashville.
Our dream is that people would not just attend church,
but would actually be the church —
in their homes, their neighborhoods, their workplaces.
That we, so radically transformed by the Gospel
and the boundless love of Jesus Christ,
would move out and intentionally engage our world daily.
The Gospel
Everything we’re about — everything we believe and anything we do — begins and ends with the Gospel. The Gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. That He is God and became man and lived and died and rose again to rescue us from sin and death. That He is at work in the world today, renewing all things. And that He beckons us to join Him.
The Gospel changes everything. We are not just saved from something, we are saved to something. God has a unique and powerful purpose for each of us. The Gospel makes us new, it makes us categorically different than we were, because the Gospel doesn’t change our circumstances, it changes our identity. We are a changed people, a renewed people, a healed people. We are a saved people. A sozo-ed people.
Because of the Gospel, we are empowered to be swept away in what God is doing in the world, our community, our street, and our lives.
Family on Mission
In the big story of scripture, the Gospel creates two new realities in the life of a believer. A new family — a new father, new brothers and sisters, a new home, a new place of belonging, a new security, a new source of love and acceptance
And a new mission — a new purpose, a new calling, a new battle to fights, a new enemy, a new king who is asking us to follow Him in what He’s doing in and for the world.
As Sozo we fight the temptation to choose either family or mission, but seek to live in the singular reality created by the Gospel — a family on mission.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let me message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” — Colossians 3:15-17
Rhythmic Living
As a family on mission, then, how do we practically live out all that we know and believe? How do we, in a steadfast, continual manor, seek God earnestly, serve those in need, and love and care for one another?
God created our lives, and creation as a whole, to thrive within an undercurrent of rhythms — from the changing of the seasons to the rising and the setting of the sun, God has brought an order and pattern to the world that we are able to sink into.
Following Jesus is no different. It is not a massive check-list or a set of to-dos, but more like a set of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly rhythms: a cadence of discipleship — hearing from God through the Scriptures, connecting to those outside of our family, seeking God earnestly, serving the least of these, and celebrating all that God has done and is doing. Not by means of a check-list or a set of to-dos, but rather as a daily tempo in our lives, we engage the rhythms of the Gospel.
In this way, we are able to truly live out our calling and purpose. In this way, we are able to draw near to God and experience more of Him. In this way, we are able to become disciples. And we are never doing it alone — we walk alongside one another, encouraging and teaching one another, practicing with one another, struggling, failing, and succeeding with one another. In this way, we are entering into how God is at work in the world.
