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Holy Bible

OUR INSPIRATION

Saint Paul and the Early Church

We believe that the blueprints for our ministry can be found in Saint Paul's example and writings in the New Testament.

Our Inspiration: About Us

We live in an apostolic age.  Christianity is not our culture anymore.  In our culture and even in our churches, the people who surround us do not know Christ.  Worse, they've been immunized against him by getting glimpses of him that are shallow at best and hostile and evil at worst.  All of this makes people convinced that they do not want or need God, and as a result, everything is falling apart.

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Like us, Saint Paul and Jesus' Apostles lived in a time when the world did not know Jesus. Their mission was to introduce the world to him. The New Testament shows us exactly how they did it, and we believe that it shows us how we can do it now.

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The Apostles knew Jesus, and they were each given the following: the Holy Spirit and his power, community with each other, and individual gifts and missions to use in the power of the Spirit in order to work together to bring Christianity to the world.  

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The power of the Holy Spirit gave them courage, passion, and all they needed to be able to live out their missions.  This power made their preaching convincing.

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In community, they had strength through their unity and their brotherhood.  They encouraged each other.  And they committed their time together to prayer, fellowship, the Eucharist, and the teaching of the Apostles.  Out of that community, they were empowered to live the missions they were called to, whether together or separately.

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Their individual gifts meant that each person was irreplaceable, and each had a particular mission.  All of them working together meant the Church was full and complete.  And each person was uniquely called by God to advance his kingdom in a very particular way.

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And they met in their homes.

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Today we have church buildings in which to come together and receive the Sacraments.  But we believe that by following the early Apostles' example in our own homes, we can rise as saints and apostles (which means "sent ones") and go into our churches and missions built up in the Spirit, working with Jesus to bring life back to the Church and the world.  Each of us is sent.  We need to live in community together where we can praise the Lord together, be strengthened in the Spirit and by each other, and get a glimpse of the ways that the Lord has called each of us so uniquely and build each other up in those missions.  Then we can go forth as apostles, as sent ones, as saints, and each do our part to raise up more saints.

Our Inspiration: Text

SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

which inspire this ministry



You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth. - Acts 1:8

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These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. - Acts 2:43

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They went as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. - Acts 2: 46-47

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If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God. - Acts 5: 39

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It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word. - Acts 6: 2-4

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They saw all the brothers and gave them some encouragement. - Acts 16: 40

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Through him we received grace and our apostolic mission. - Romans 1: 5

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I am longing to see you either to strengthen you by sharing a spiritual gift with you, or what is better, to find encouragement among you from our common faith. - Romans 1: 11-12

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Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function, so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. Our gifts differ according to the grace given to us. If your gift is prophecy, then use it as your faith suggests; if administration, then use it for administration; if teaching, then use it for teaching. Let the preachers deliver sermons, the almsgivers give freely, the officials be diligent, and those who do works of mercy do them cheerfully. - Romans 12: 4-8

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Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other. - Romans 12: 10

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You should make hospitality your special care. - Romans 12: 13

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Everyone doing the building must work carefully. For a foundation, no one can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11

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The kingdom of God is not just words, it is power. - 1 Corinthians 4:20

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There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them.  The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.  One may have the gift of preaching with wisdom given him by the Spirit; another may have the gift of preaching instruction given him by the same Spirit; and another the gift of faith given by the same Spirit; another again the gift of healing, through this one Spirit; one, the power of miracles; another, prophecy; another the gift of tongues and another the ability to interpret them.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses. - 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11

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God put all the separate parts into the body on purpose.  If all the parts were the same, how could it be a body?  As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. - 1 Corinthians 12: 18-20

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Since you aspire to spiritual gifts, concentrate on those which will grow to benefit the community. - 1 Corinthians 14: 12

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At all your meetings, let everyone be ready with a psalm or a sermon or a revelation, or ready to use his gift of tongues or to give an interpretation; but it must always be for the common good. - 1 Corinthians 14: 26


MORE COMING SOON

Our Inspiration: Text
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