The Three C’s by: Tomas Hogan

There are three things that we should be focusing on in this season at theSHIFT. These things speak di-rectly to the purpose and vision of what God wants to do through us in Cheyenne. Those three things won’t come as a surprise to many of you; they are interwoven throughout the blogs, social networks, conversations, and relationships that currently make up our ministry. But these three concepts need to be more than promoted they need to become ingrained in theSHIFT culture, so that when outsiders ap-proach us these are the evident actions of our group. Are you ready? Here goes:

Connection - Community - Challenge

These three things are integral to building the ministry that doesn’t just exist but thrives. I’m going to break these down briefly and show how they impact us in theSHIFT.

A Connection: It doesn’t matter if you’re a founding attendee of theSHIFT or this is your first visit, connection is what theSHIFT is about. From an initial connection by reaching out and finding what you’re into, to the lasting connection of engaging you as part of the group and hearing your story, we build this group solely on connection. The leaders within theSHIFT are approachable, but even more so the atmosphere we create should be inviting and approachable. There are superficial connections like what kind of music you like or our appearances and that’s not what we’re getting at. Instead we should be constantly look-ing for ways to relate and share with each other despite our appearances and differences, this mindset exalts Christ and helps resolve conflict before it arises. Our ability to recognize others and make them feel connected is one of the great successes of this ministry. TheSHIFT itself is promoted, sustained, and grow-ing because of connection, we haven’t gone out of our way to make posters and do fund raising be-cause “shifters” themselves do all that without anyone specifically asking them to. It is truly up to us as individuals to impact the growth and direction of the shift and that is acted out in connection. The many connections built in theSHIFT create our community.

A Community: TheSHIFT is building community. Community is our thing. We want to experience love, loss, life, and Christ together . Community for us is more than a large group that shows up and talks together; in-stead we truly have an investment in the people that are “Shifting” with us. Through connecting on a personal level (not with everyone but at least with someone) we experience faith in a way that isn’t dis-tant or abstract but immediate and meaningful for wherever you are in life right now. If you don’t feel close to God hopefully the community can lift you up whether in prayer or even by just being there for you. This kind of community can’t be taught it must be experienced. A Community mindset also keeps us from the pitfalls of cliques and selfishness. One of the ways we can practice community is by making our-selves available within theSHIFT. A great start for some people may be to simply engage more in the dis-cussions in breakout groups, if that isn’t a challenge for you then maybe it’s time to start attending a life group, there is one available for whatever your commitment level. Finally if you’re already engaging in the active role of Sunday night and you are currently attending a life group, maybe the next step for you in helping us build community is to “join the family” if you’re curious about what that means approach someone in theSHIFT and ask. Community is what Christ has “called” us to here in Cheyenne, and com-munity is what the church throughout the New Testament aspires to.

A Challenge: This is a tough one, the idea of challenge may not seem to be appealing to some people but if you spend any time at all listening to the heart of others you will quickly find that challenge is the one thing we all have in common, whether it’s school, work, family, church, the past, the present, or the fu-ture, we are all overcoming challenge, being challenged, or preparing for challenge. In this context we need to be conscious through the eyes of community and connection of the people around us and to an even greater extent to help one another navigate challenges by simply being “there”. It’s the main reason we rarely cancel a Sunday night and why we try to create opportunities outside of Sunday to come to-gether. Furthermore, Challenge isn’t just for us it’s also part of outflow. God wants us to grow, to mature, and to give ourselves to others so that they, in turn, can grow, mature, and give themselves away. The Great Commission is built on this principle. Go and make disciples. Challenge should be the one thing we reference only second to the bible itself in order to understand our development. The Holy Spirit Chal-lenges us and we challenge each other, theSHIFT was made for this very idea.

Whew, that was a lot I know. There is a final “C” that is invisible but must be pointed out. Christ Himself. Connection without Christ is temporary not eternal. Community without Christ is a social gathering not spirit and truth. And Challenge without Christ is drudgery and not meaningful. Let’s start making theSHIFT a place that is growing in these things.