Community

Community has become the new buzz word within modern Christianity. So what is community?
Community is defined as a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government: A group of people having common interests:A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society:

Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Even though countless fellowships have embraced the concept of community within their local assemblies and created wonderful subcultures of faith; The church universal has fallen short when it comes to living in community as the bride of Christ. "Community" is loving each other regardless of our personalities, theologies and human imperfections. "Community" is joining together to reach the world around us for the kingdom of God.

"Community" is not some buzz word or coined phrase it is simply this: to love God and to love people.
The Zion Project exists to unify and inspire those around us to live in true authentic "Community".

The Overflow

One can not give to a cause without first being filled up and empowered to do so. Likewise It is from the abundance of our soul that we serve and give our talents for the kingdom of God. Unfortunately today more and more volunteers,youth leaders and pastors are serving from an empty tank. The desire to serve often turns to a burden. Many of these players for the Kingdom have a hard time worshipping in thier own congregations. It is not that they do not enjoy where they serve it is that they end up doing something even on their day off.
Leaders end up trapped by their own place that is suppose to be home. Attending another church within the community is out of the question due to the appearance of a leader from another church "shopping" for another place to worship.

This is creating a group of servants that are serving with a half full chalice. God truly operates in the overflow in our lives not from the bottom of the glass. Even for leaders that are operating with a full tank finding a source of inspiration can be challenging.

The Zion Project has created a place that leaders can go to and get filled without the obligation of serving. This is accomplished because we are not a church. We are a group of believers that have a burden for unifying and inspiring our community. Church volunteers and leaders are a vital part of our community and we want to do all we can to support them and the churches they represent. We want to be a resource and a refuge for all that attend our gatherings.

John 7:38
38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Church-ianity

When I was a kid my Mom drug me to church come Sunday whether I liked it or not. Boring monotony is the only way to describe that experience. When I was old enough I was introduced to the wonderful world of youth group which consisted of staring at girls and playing the latest clever game some underpaid youth pastor created. Upon graduating high school and becoming an "adult" I was now suddenly expected to be assimilated into the world of church-ianity (made up word but it is rad). I always felt out of place with the set few songs a 35.5 minute message followed by a quick bagel and a dash out the door. Does this experience sound familiar to any of you?

The question all this brings me to is where are the people at? More and more people young and old are opting not to be involved in a local assembly. Has church become so predictable that there is little desire for them to come? Do we have more distractions that are keeping us away from the Sunday morning ritual?
I ask these questions not to criticize the church or to point out what they are doing wrong. My intent is to bring out the fact that increasing numbers of those around us are finding little to no value from organized religion. They want to encounter God, they want to see a loving community but the rigidity and structure of 3 songs and a 3 point message have left them desiring more.

There are "relevant" congregations out there that have catered more to the cool crowd but often the desire to have a relevant expression creates a cliq of undiscipled coffee shop philosphers. I think there is a balance that can be accomplished between the dogma of tradition and the shallowness of being relevant. When Paul spoke of being all things to all people he was not just referring to those that were not of the faith. We are to be all things to all believers. The Zion Project has discovered the key to bringing those together that are looking for more from thier overall God experience.

The Zion Project is not a church; this creates a freedom from the expectation and predictability that one automatically expects from a traditional gathering. The Zion Project understands the importance of the local church and the need for a weekly gathering. Thats is why our goal is to bring people from all walks together to allow them to experience God on their terms in a open format that allows the movement of the Spirit without the confinement of time and tradition. The quarterly gatherings of the Zion Project are intended to augment the weekly services of the local churches in our community. Many of those involved are leaders and pastors within our mountain community.

Our mission is to Unify and Inspire those around us to push their faith to a new level regardless of where they are or are not. In doing this we make our local churches stronger and light a spark of change in our community.