Podcasts

We know, you might be a little confused if you look at the flow between week 2 and 3. We’ve gone from chapter 1 to chapter 5. But that’s because it might be easier to understand Romans if you get to the heart of it and discover what Paul’s fighting for before you work through the way he fights. He’s defending a gospel that speaks of the expansive, inexhaustible love of God, and he begins to speak at length of that love in chapter 5.

Ways to Get Connected

• Check out all of our Tables
• Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

If you’re a part of the growing digital SBCC community, we’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note letting us know how you found us and what keeps you listening at: info@southbendcitychurch.com.

Paul begins his letter to the Christians in Rome with some big words: apostle, gospel, grace and peace. But those words may have meant something different for his original audience than they mean for us today. Let’s spend some time recovering the unexpectedly radical energy of these ideas.

Ways to Get Connected

• RSVP to our New to SBCC Virtual Table on October 2 at 8:30p EST via Zoom
• Join us for our Open Table on September 24
• Check out all of our Tables
• Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

One of the most talked about, preached about, regularly-studied texts in the New Testament is the book of Romans, a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a community of Jesus’ followers roughly three decades after Jesus. It’s been especially prominent in Protestant and Evangelical spaces. But what if the way it’s usually talked about misses the point?

The early church was an impossible community. People somehow found a radical capacity for belonging with one another across every imaginable line of difference. And the letter Paul wrote to this early church shows his own wrestling with how the experience of Christ makes this impossible community possible. What if this text that’s been centered in so many religious spaces is talking about not just our own personal reconciliation with God, but also the ways that we can belong to each other? Between now and next spring, we’ll take a path through Romans that might be unfamiliar for those who have walked the “Romans road”, but with a desire to recover the radical message of this powerful text.

This week, as we considered our approach to the letter, Jason also proposed a handful of principles for us to keep in mind as we proceed:

Paul isn’t a systematic theologian. He’s a practical theologian.
It’s hard to know what it means if you don’t know what it meant.
Knowing what it says doesn’t matter if you don’t what you don’t know what it did.
Just because an interpretation is the only one you’ve heard, that doesn’t mean it’s the most well-founded, historically corroborated, widely held Christian view.
We’re looking for God, love, belonging, community, and possibility.

Ways to Get Connected

• RSVP to our New to SBCC Virtual Table on October 2 at 8:30p EST via Zoom
• Join us for our Open Table on September 24
• Check out all of our Tables
• Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

In this weekend’s gatherings we had the chance to slow down and breathe. We did this by singing some songs and entering into a breath prayer. This was all supported by Cole Arthur Riley’s work, both on her Instagram and from her book “This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us“.

If you want to follow along with the transcript, you can do so by following along below. Our hope is that wherever you are, you’re able to take a second to breathe deep and rest today.

Ways to Get Connected

• Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

In John 21, we see Jesus trying to have a conversation with one of his followers about the calling on his life, but that disciple is distracted by the fate of someone else. As we expand our circles of concern with a faith that includes our neighbors, strangers, and enemies, how do we stay committed to the lives we’re called to?

Ways to Get Connected

• Check out all Tables opportunities or let us know if you’re a long-distance community member that wants to create community in the digital space.
• RSVP to our New to SBCC Table on September 10
• Register for Student Tables or let us know if you’re interested in being an adult mentor.
• Let us know that you’re interested in volunteering or, if you’re a long-distance community member, start a conversation with us about how to jump in from afar.
• Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

This weekend we had the opportunity to enter into practices of joy as a community. We encourage you to join us by listening to this liturgy in a place that brings you joy or to have something nearby that you enjoy doing or looking at. During this episode, there will be an opportunity to pause and do something that brings you joy. In our gathering space, we had art from our kiddos on display and supplies that allowed us to do the same art projects. CLICK HERE to view the art during that time or feel free to enjoy your own practice of joy today.

Ways to Get Connected
Support the ongoing work of SBCC by giving to our general fund. South Bend City Church is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible.