flourishing relationships

Marriage goes back to the very beginning of the Bible where God creates Eve to be a helper to Adam. They enter into a one flesh union marked by willful covenant, relational and sexual intimacy. There are strong counter narratives of the essence of marriage in our culture today. Will we seek to understand and submit to God's final authority about marriage?

God not only created us for flourishing relationships. He created us to work. But how do we work with others while not reducing them to their performance at work? How can we have objectives in relationship while not objectifying one another?

This week we look at what The Bible has to say about dating relationships. This can be difficult since modern dating looks so different from biblical times. What does The Bible say about why we should date, who we should date and how we should date?

Jesus calls His church to care for and befriend those who live in the margins of society. Those are His people. Will we go with Him to those places to walk with them as He does?

Friendship is a key ingredient for a godly, flourishing life, and yet modern life is often lonely. How can we find friends?

We honor our parents by seeing them as God does: human, flawed, forgiven

Children are full persons, with all the dignity and complexity and glory of our own personhood. We cannot dismiss them.

Relationships are in disrepair because of sin. But we are not without hope. Jesus, through His own blood on the cross, made possible a path to restored relationships: peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and restitution. 

Flourishing relationships are relationships where we know others and others know us. This requires a commitment to truth-telling, even when it hurts.

Many of our relationships are shaped by our fears. God wants us to experience a perfect love that will drive out all of our fears.