God Comes Where He's Wanted | The Church - Sam Gibson
Jan 20, 2025
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Pastor Sam Gibson leads ministry staff at Church of the City New York and directs PrayNYC. He discusses the importance of cultivating spiritual altars in the community, highlighting the need to address emotional struggles within the church. Sam emphasizes rebuilding places for God's presence by removing false idols. He advocates for diverse worship practices and fostering intergenerational connections, urging listeners to nurture their spiritual lives and focus on the centrality of God's presence in worship.
The church in New York City aims to combat spiritual lostness by creating spaces that foster God's presence and community engagement.
A cultural apologetics center is being established to address ethical dilemmas with a holistic understanding of faith and beauty.
The podcast emphasizes the need for unity and collective worship as essential to nurturing spiritual growth amid personal and communal challenges.
Deep dives
The Mission of the Church in New York City
The church is undertaking a significant mission in New York City, which is noted as one of the most spiritually lost cities in the U.S. With nearly 5 million residents unaware of Jesus and a decline in religious affiliation, the church aims to address this alarming trend. A major initiative currently underway is the fundraising campaign called 'Living the Liturgy,' with a goal of raising $3 million to further the church's influence and outreach efforts. These funds are earmarked to build a center that merges vocational work with spiritual discipleship, emphasizing the importance of faith in the workplace among a predominantly secular population.
Addressing Cultural Apologetics
The creation of a cultural apologetics center is a priority for the church, with the aim of responding effectively to contemporary ethical dilemmas and cultural challenges. This center will bring together leaders and experts to transform traditional apologetics, which often focuses solely on logic, into a more holistic approach that emphasizes the beauty of faith. The church desires to equip its members with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate complex cultural issues while remaining firmly rooted in their faith. By addressing these complex challenges, the church seeks to empower a generation of believers to articulate their beliefs meaningfully and beautifully.
The Importance of the Church Community
The podcast emphasizes the significance of the church community as a source of support and spiritual growth, especially in a world fraught with challenges and temptations. There is an acknowledgment of personal pain and struggles that members may face within their church families, highlighting the importance of healing and understanding in these relationships. The speaker urges listeners to focus on the collective experience of the church rather than drawing away due to negative experiences. The call is for unity and commitment to the church, as it plays a critical role in nurturing spiritual vitality and discipleship.
Building Altars in Our Lives
The discussion extends into the concept of building altars in personal lives and the collective church, emphasizing the need to prioritize God above all else. The notion of creating a spiritual center involves tearing down false altars that may distract believers from their devotion to God. This includes challenges surrounding personalities, programs, and practices that have taken precedence over genuine worship and reverence for God. By reevaluating and rebuilding personal and communal altars, the church aims to foster a culture where remembrance, reverence, repentance, and rejoicing become foundational elements of worship.
A Call to Remember and Rejoice
The call to action includes remembering God’s faithfulness and rejoicing in His goodness despite external circumstances. The podcast presents a powerful message about the necessity of maintaining a joyful heart, even during trials, and the impact that collective rejoicing can have within the community. It underscores the importance of gratitude and praise, encouraging believers to seek and celebrate God’s works in their lives and the lives of others. By fostering an atmosphere of remembrance and thanksgiving, the church aspires to maintain a vibrant spiritual life that resonates beyond its walls into the wider community.
This Sunday, Pastor Sam Gibson continued our God Comes Where He’s Wanted series with a message on cultivating the altar of the Church. Pastor Sam acknowledged there is often pain and hopelessness tied to conversations about the Church today, while offering a hopeful vision of restoring corporate spaces of seeking God through tearing down false altars, building up spaces for God’s presence, and tending to those spaces as unified bodies of believers.
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