​The Goal of Discipleship
The New Testament word “disciple” conveys being a student, follower, learner, even an imitator. Perhaps even better, we can see the word illustrated in how Jesus interacts with his own disciples. He lives life with them, teaches, sends them on adventures together, interprets current events, processes experiences, and more—all in light of the Kingdom of God, the new reality he is teaching them to live into.

​Most centrally, Christian discipleship should be shaped by:

1. The Great Commandment (Mark 12:29-31)

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”

1. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

​​What Is Worship?
There are many ways of defining, describing, and illustrating what worship is—at its core. If we strip away the particular songs and structures (which vary from church to church and culture to culture), what IS worship? A definition we work with here at Point Place UCC goes like this:

​As we are sown in God’s Story, 
we reap the expression of praise and the formation of lives.
 
Thus, the goal of worship is to help the people of God develop roots into the Story (the Scriptures, the Gospel, the Story of God’s work in the world), and then to create space where God’s people can express praise in response to that Story and have their lives formed by that Story.

3G Teams are about bringing our Vision to life:

• Living the Gospel Life together as we
• Glorify God in whole-life worship
• Grow as disciples by word and Spirit, and
• Glow with Christ's love in our neighborhoods.

Thus, 3Gs: Glorify, Grow, and Glow. These are the essence of who we are as a church: worshippers, disciples, and missionaries. It's who we are. It's what we do. It's what we're going for.

So the Leadership Team has decided to experiment with structuring our community around the Vision of our community. And so we're going to try this: 3G Teams. There are actually 4 teams: Glorify, Grow, Glow, and Together.

• The Glorify Team helps bring a sermon series/worship theme to life through Sunday morning worship services and other special worship experiences. \
• The Grow Team helps the congregation go deeper in faith both in knowledge and practice. 
  
• The Glow Team helps the congregation to move outward into the world in mission. 
  
• The Together Team helps facilitate connection and mutual care within the congregation. 
  

All the groups meet together before each season. The theme for the coming season will be presented and groups can break out and start brainstorming or planning. Here's the key: there are no "musts" or "job descriptions." These teams use THEIR gifts and THEIR passions to bring to life our vision. These are teams of the people, by the people, and for the people, if you will. So that the ministry of our church isn't something being dictated from above, but a living reality born out of the imaginations and creativity of the community.

Our first 3G Team Session is this Sunday, October 9th after worship. We hope you will come and check it out!