Beachside Community Church

It's been a crazy few months!

In January, I was part of a new church plant in our town called "Beachside Community Church."  

Although we will begin monthly beach services in May, the name isn't a "location," per se.  It was inspired by these following verses from John 21:

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

My husband, Chris ~ who is the lead pastor ~ has a Lutheran background; our Worship Pastor has a Baptist background.  Beachside has a good balance of these two backgrounds, with an emphasis on "radical grace" and forgiveness.

We felt there was a need to start a church with a "community" feel; yet a church that still held some important traditions, such as the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Supper.  

We wanted to create a church that had an open, welcoming feel and one that stressed positive relational experiences.

We wanted to be part of a church that would fiercely hold itself  as a "safe" place.

In our experience, church has not always been a safe place.  It is really, really sad  that rampant "bad" behavior (such as gossiping, sabotaging, tearing each other down) can damage peoples' relationships with each other and with God.  

This is beyond tragic.  Followers of Jesus need to be different.

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  

Matthew 22:36-40

Christians are terrible loving each other.  TERRIBLE.

They can be some of the meanest, most judgmental people you will ever meet.  It shouldn't be like this at all.   AT ALL.

Christians should not be attending church on Sunday mornings, then acting like total a@@holes in their communities the rest of the week.    (There ~ yes, I said it.)

So here we are...four months later.  We really feel like we have something special.    We are doing things differently.

We had an amazing Easter Sunday.  It was outside and the weather was beautiful.  I thought I would add some photos today.