Media & Resources

Our culture often equates strength with power, dominance, and control. Yet, the greatest demonstration of strength ever witnessed was not an act of force, but an act of self-emptying love.

Joy has a name — Jesus Christ knows what he’s talking about when he says, ​“It is better to give than to receive” and I’ve experienced that. In his presence there is fullness of joy. I could say that as a twenty-one year old kid when I first gave my life to Jesus. I can say that now as a forty-two year old man. I pray that I can say that as a sixty-two year old grandfather and perhaps as an eighty-two year old man that is going to face his maker soon. That, no matter what is going on in life, in his presence there is fullness of joy.

Peace has a name, and – as so often – the children are right. In its truest and fullest sense, that name is Jesus. He is the source. But as a simple servant of the King, and in my small corner, perhaps peace has another name: mine.

Hope has a name, and as followers of Jesus, we know it to be His. But in a recent deep dive into the book of Hebrews, I found that Hope is not only rightly named, it is so clearly defined that to miss it would be, well, hopeless.

“I am drawn to the actions of Jesus who responded to the violence of an occupying super power, not with violence or rage, but with forgiveness and an invitation to be healed.”

This is not new, but we have a problem with power. Everyday we see stories of power being abused and misused…In a world where forgiveness was inaccessibly expensive for most, a forgiveness scam, Jesus came to establish a whole new forgiveness economy, for the everyone and anyone…Be people of peace. Be people of hope. And love courageously.

Rather, Jesus said that the kingdom of God advances through prayer, good deeds, preaching the gospel and laying our lives down in self-sacrificial love. The outcomes of listening and following the Spirit will look like Jesus.

Today, this process is continued by the Jesus-shaped Spirit. Spiritual formation is ​“cross-shaped” — the Spirit speaks to nail our sin and selfishness to the cross.

Though the process varies, the goal remains the same. Lives that reflect the nature of God in Christ. Mission that echoes the ways of Jesus. And communities where the kingdom of God is seen in the lives of others.

My contention is that Revelation, when read through the lens of the Gospels, will help us uncover the prophetic hope that saves us from nihilistic despair.

When I read Scripture with a Jesus lens, I become fully persuaded of God’s desire for women’s full inclusion in all of church life.

In providing a distinct alternative to the approaches to sexuality available in his culture, Jesus continued the pattern of third way thinking that characterized his Kingdom message.

The way of Jesus has always been a way in which peace is both the means and the end. If his life was marked by peace, then peace isn’t an afterthought of our discipleship but core to it.

We collected a handful of reflections and prayers from our Partners that speak to what it means for us to centre on Jesus and live out his way in the times we’re in.

God calls us to do justice as He does justice, to love as Jesus loved, and to walk by the Spirit in peace with God and each other.

In preparation for UNITE ​‘22, we asked our Partners and friends in the community what a Jesus-centred gospel means to them.

When Jesus is the center of our seeing and doing together, we don’t get absorbed into a pre-described justice of the world. We become agents under Jesus making space for him to work wherever he may be received.

Embodying a ​“third way” is both a challenge and a promise. It’s challenging because it’s counter-intuitive and it’s a promise to share in the way of Christ.

The Word at God’s side from the start is a person. He is God’s unveiling, God’s self-expression, God’s giving of self to be known. He was always there, the song God was singing before there were even ears to hear it

To a polarized world, we offer nothing as a polarized church. We’re called to be united in Christ, pointing towards Christ.

To declare Jesus is Lord is as profound today as it was in the first century, and seventeenth century, and every day and year in between and ever since.

The Theology Circle is a group of Jesus Collective leaders joining together to provide theological direction and resources for our network, mentor theological leaders, and provide a peaceful voice for this growing Jesus-centred movement around the world.