The Five Pillars

When thinking on the JHC I wrestled with the idea of what our group was going to be about; what was going to be our mark as an individual group and within the body of Christ?
I came to conclusion that our group would be marked by five pillars. These five pillars would be what held up our group and supported us. The JHC would be about these five pillars in every activity and meeting.

1) Scripture: We are dependent on God's Word and are committed to studying it and allowing its teachings to transform our lives (2 Timothy 3:16). God has revealed Himself through Scripture so we are committed to learning from it and devoting our lives to what it teaches.

2) Gospel: We want to be people who know the Gospel, are transformed by the Gospel, and proclaim the Gospel. Understand the Gospel is understanding what we've been saved from (sin, death and Hell) and what we've been saved to (forgiveness, transformation into Christ's character, eternal life in glory with God) through Christ's life, death on the cross (as punishment for our sins that have separated us from God), and resurrection (conquering sin and death!), and ascending to glory. (Romans 10: 10-11; Ephesians 2:4-9; 1 Corinthians 15: 52-58)
We are people who proclaim the Gospel:

• To ourselves- reminding ourselves daily what Christ has done for us and allowing that to transform us and influence our decisions and how we see the world.
• To others who believe- encouraging other believers in the faith to take refuge and find strength in the hope of who Christ is and what He has done for us.
  
• To those who do not yet believe- telling them who Christ is by proclaiming it with our words and living lives as examples of who Christ is and the hope and peace He gives.

3) Family: We are committed to meeting together as the JHC and being firmly connected with all of Temecula Hills Christian Fellowship. We know that meeting together is essential for living our lives for Christ. (Hebrews 10: 24,25).

4) Prayer: We are committed to living lives of prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17), communicating with God. We pray because the Bible tells us to, it changes things (giving us a chance to participate in what God is doing in the world), and because our lives depend on it as we seek first God's Kingdom and High righteousness and resist sin. We will continually learn how to pray both individually and as a group.

5) God's glory: We live with a desire to bring Glory to God in all we do (1 Peter 4:10-11, 1 Corinthians 10:31-a verse we have displayed on our youth room wall). We continually are learning and remembering how great God is and live lives of humility as a response.