Our Community Testifies of the Trinity

When God created heaven and earth, the only thing in creation he deemed "not good" was a man without community. We were meant for relationships, and we worship a God who is himself a community. Our love for one another is a testimony to the world about how the members of the Trinity love and relate to one another.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 184.

Community is Part of the Message

Community isn't just a requirement; it's actually part of the message. As we live our identities in community with one another, we are testifying to the world what it means to follow Jesus.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 184.

Discipleship Involves Movement

As witnesses for Jesus, we don't first and foremost call people to a place or a building. We don't call people to make a pilgrimage to the Jesus-temple or to a stable in Bethlehem. Instead, we seek them out, embracing them as Jesus embraces us. Movement can be geographic, but it's often just as difficult to make relational and intimate movement.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 183-84.

Simple Evangelism

Our tendency is to think that [witnessing] requires a program or a target audience outside the ordinary stream of our lives, but it doesn't. It starts with our being witnesses in the ordinary places where we live and work, and it starts with our simply building friendships and getting to know people.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 183.

A Mind Formed by the Scriptures and a Life Shaped by the Gospel

We should be shaping our whole lives like an athlete, cultivating a mind formed by the Scriptures and a life shaped by the gospel, not because we're earning something but because this is truly a better way to live--because we want to be able to see Jesus as more beautiful and more believable.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 171.

Our Commitment to Other Christians Should Reflect God's Commitment to Us

Nowhere does the Bible show us an individualistic faith where Jesus is only your personal Savior. This isn't just about going to church; this is about being faithful to the gospel. We're saying that the commitment that God has made to us through the sacrifice of the Son results in commitment to one another and sacrifice for one another.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 141.

The Gospel Never Excuses Us

The gospel, while it frees us from the burdens of our sin and shame, never excuses us. Our sin results in Christ's death, which both calls for us to be humbled by our sin and frees us from the burden of shame that once accompanied it.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 137.