Vision
At the core of 501 is a heart for growing young adults to be like Christ!
Growth comes through many avenues but our primary focus can be seen in four major fronts:
501 Thursday Night - Worship, learning, body life
501 Groups - Connection, learning, scriptural “one anothering”
Events and Service - Local, national, international
501 Mobile Community - 501 Facebook, Twitter, Fellowship501.com
And he [Jesus] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
-Ephesians 4:11-16
In this passage we see the essence of 501: to grow into “…the stature of the fullness of Christ.” and to “grow up” becoming part of Jesus’ Body, the Church. The scriptures declare it is actually the church body itself which generates growth, unity, and maturity as the Holy Spirit guides and empowers individual believers as they pursue Christ and participate in that community. This is a key distinctive of 501.
501 Thursday Night
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” -Matthew 18:20
501 Groups
501 groups gather every Thursday night for about 45 minutes, except for once a month when we will have a guest speaker. Groups are structured around the sharing of life and the study of God’s Word in a smaller group setting allowing for deep authentic growth in relationships that lead to a true Christ-centered community. These groups not only provide a place for deep relationships to develop over time, they are also a “portal” to connect to with many other ministry opportunities that 501 is involved with.
Events and Service
In 501 we, like our church body, strive to live lives of irresistible influence by equipping and unleashing our members to change the community. Specifically one way that we as the 501 body unleash into the community is through service projects and events that are for the purpose of establishing and deepening friendships (community) in a fun social environment, engaging us as worshipers, and equipping us through the study of God’s revelation in His word.
501 Mobile Community
In the most technologically advanced generation, we find the startling fact that young adults are less satisfied in relationships and are lonelier than their elders by some 40 percent (says George Barna).
Our 501 Facebook, Twitter and website provide a great connection to the lives of His servants, to the heart of Christ, to be a great resource into God’s Word… But if those connections don’t move from the blogosphere into our homes and coffee shops the power of real community seems to be lost. We want our web involvement to be alive and help shape ministry in our daily community involvement.
