Woven Together

For the past six months, our church has been asking a simple question together: “God, where are you leading us?”

Back in October, we invited our church into a season of intentional prayer and many of you participated. Then in November, a group of leaders gathered for a retreat to discern how God might be answering that question.

We walked out of the retreat with a sense of clarity and have spent the last several months listening to feedback, refining the language, and preparing to share the answer with our entire church. We returned to the question again, and prayed together throughout the month of March to prepare our hearts for what we believe God has on the horizon for us.

The answer is not primarily about our dreams, but rather about how God is inviting us to join Him in what He is already doing in our city.

There’s a scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin, exhausted from trying to find his son, stumbles into the East Australian Current. What once felt slow and impossible becomes effortless as he is carried forward by the current.

That image came to my mind on the first morning of our retreat in November. Because it was a picture of what it looks like for us to partner with Jesus. It is exhausting to try and make progress through our own effort, so instead we are trying to figure out where the current of God’s Spirit is already flowing, and then join Him there.

Learning from Jesus: Pattern, Posture, and Partnership

In Matthew 9:35–38, we find both a summary of Jesus’ ministry and an invitation into our own. Matthew tells us that Jesus went throughout the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming the gospel, and healing every disease and affliction. His ministry followed a clear pattern of both word and deed. He proclaimed the truth and met real needs. It was always both, never just one. And yet, over the past 150 years, the American church has often divided what Jesus held together. Some have emphasized truth and proclamation, while others have focused on justice and tangible care. But in Jesus, there is no divide. Truth and love, word and deed, compassion and conviction are woven together in him. As his followers, we are called to the same integrated way of life.

Matthew also shows us the posture of Jesus. When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion. He did not respond with indifference or condemnation, but with deep, visceral love. He saw people as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”, echoing God’s promise in Ezekiel 34 to come and seek His people Himself. In Jesus, that promise is fulfilled. He sees people clearly, loves them deeply, and moves toward them with compassion.

Finally, Jesus invites his disciples into partnership. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” he says, and then he tells them to begin with prayer. We pray because this is God’s mission, not ours. He is the Lord of the harvest, and we are invited to join Him in His work. As we pray, we begin to realize that we are often the very answer to the prayers we are praying.

But before we ever join Jesus in his mission, we have to remember that he first accomplished the mission for us. Our deepest problem is not just the brokenness we experience around us, but our separation from God. In response, Jesus acts on his compassion by going to the cross to redeem us. He becomes the Shepherd we lacked and the Savior we could never be for ourselves. So before we ever join him in the harvest, we are first part of the harvest he came to save.

Our Present Moment: The Pain of our City

If this is how Jesus sees people, and how he loves people, then we are asking what it looks like for us to join him here, in our city, at this moment. As we’ve prayed, we have come to see a deep and growing need in our city.

Loneliness

More than half of people in our nation report feeling isolated and alone. In many ways, we are more connected than ever and yet we feel more alone than ever. In an increasingly lonely America, our city ranks among the top 10 loneliest cities in our nation.

Division

Our cultural moment is marked by fracture, tension, and polarization, something our own city has experienced in visible ways.

Distrust

Trust in institutions, leadership, and even one another has eroded. And where trust breaks down, anxiety rises.

We were never meant to carry the weight of life alone, but increasingly, people feel like they have no choice. This is the pain of our city, and we believe it is the very place where God is inviting us to step in.

Our Woven Together Dream

So here is what we believe God is calling us into:

We believe that by our 10th anniversary of replanting (2033), God is calling River City Church to cultivate thousands of trusted relationships - especially among young cultural skeptics - as hundreds of everyday disciples embody the transforming welcome of Jesus.

We say “especially among young cultural skeptics” not because they are the only people we care about, but because they are one of the clearest mission fields God has placed around us in this part of the city.

Everyday Disciples

By everyday disciples, we mean ordinary followers of Jesus living with intentionality in the places God has already put them - at work, at home, in neighborhoods, and in everyday rhythms.

Trusted Relationships

Trusted relationships are formed over time through consistent, faithful presence. They are the kind of relationships where people begin to say:

“You’re someone I trust.”

“You see me.”

“I can talk to you.”

And they tend to grow through three simple qualities:

• Consistency – we keep showing up
• Presence – we enter real life with people
• Curiosity – we listen to their story, their wounds, and their hopes

These relationships open the door for the most important conversations about life, faith, and Jesus.

The Transforming Welcome of Jesus

Jesus welcomes people with both compassion and conviction, grace and truth. He receives us as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us as we are.

This vision is about more than just making friends. It is about embodying the kind of welcome that leads to transformation. In a world marked by distrust, loving presence is not just a strategy, it is part of the mission itself.

As we show up, listen, and care, trust begins to grow. And as trust grows, the good news of Jesus can be heard as good news.

A Future Worth Imagining

We are living in a city where the relational fabric is fraying. And we believe Jesus is calling us to participate in his restoring work - thread by thread, relationship by relationship.

Imagine a city where hundreds of everyday disciples live this way. Imagine people knowing exactly who they can turn to when life falls apart. Not because we have built a platform, but because we have become a people of presence. A people known for peace, joy, and trust. A people who embody the transforming welcome of Jesus.

This is not ultimately our mission. It is God’s mission. The Father is still the Lord of the harvest. Jesus is still the compassionate shepherd. Jesus is still the one who saves.

And Jesus is inviting us to come and join him in his work.

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This article is based on Pastor Jeremy’s Woven Together sermon, which you can listen to here.