Tag Archive for: water

30 Days to Live

30-Days-to-Live-resized

What if you learned you had just 30 days to live? How would your life be different? Is it possible to make the most of every day, right now?

January 17: Living in the Moment

January 24: Focusing On What Matters

January 31: Leaving a Godly Legacy

February 7: Fighting for Peace

SMALL GROUPS will be a central part of this series — helping the Scripture move from our head to our heart. So whether you’re new to the Branch or a long-timer, we hope you’ll dive in. Everyone is invited.

These short-term small groups will begin meeting the week of January 17, and will gather for five consecutive weeks.  If you’re interested in joining a group, click on the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the page and put “30 Days to Live SG” in the subject line. Also, let us know what group you’d prefer joining. It’s that simple. We’ll e-mail you details.

Sunday evening: couples (with or without kids)

Sunday evening: women’s group

Sunday evening: singles & couples (i.e. everyone!)

Tuesday morning: men’s group

Wednesday evening: men’s group

To find out more about what Sunday mornings look like, click here.

Small Groups

1133109_11968610How do we stay connected to God and others in our fast-paced world? Where do we find strength and encouragement? Who will help us stay focused on the things that matter: transformation, mission,and love? Small groups are one of the places at the Branch where you’ll find people committed to these very things. And while each group is unique, each are pursuing the same hope and dream: to better love God, love others and follow Jesus.If you’re interested in joining a group, click on the “contact” link at the very top of this page and we’ll get in touch pronto.


Community :: Water

waterWe are using water as a metaphor for community and here’s why… with water we are baptized into community. Water gives life just as it cleanses and renews. Together we form streams of living water and offer love and hope to a spiritually thirsty world.

The above description is summary on the info cards that we’ve printed up, but the symbolism goes much deeper. There is a theme that runs throughout God’s word about ‘living water’ or, the ‘river of life’. Jesus references it when he tells the women at the well about ’springs of living water’. Paul speaks of it when he talks about baptism in his epistles.  Erwin Mcmanus describes the way that baptism forms community in this way:

Every believer passes through the waters and becomes a part of the river of life. Alone, you are only standing in a puddle. Together we become an oasis where those searching for genuine love and acceptance can come and drink deeply.

Almost everyone we’ve ever met has a desire to connect on a spiritual level with something larger then himself or herself. Most are unable to articulate how or why but they feel it in their bones. It’s just the way we we’re created. However, our culture is constantly telling us that the material world (the world that we can see and touch and feel) is all there is to life. Culture is telling you and I that we are alone and we best get used to it and learn how to cope. This makes for a whole lot of people wandering and groping in a spiritual desert. They have a deep thirst for spiritual connection but find nothing to drink.

Jesus said that if we ask, he would create in us a spring of living water welling up to eternal life. The community that follows Jesus is the oasis of God. Together, we are the place of love where a thirsty world can come and drink deeply.