Evangelical Community Church (ecc)

When the rich young man encountered Jesus he asked a sincere question from the heart. Jesus gave him an honest answer. Certainly this is a story about the power of wealth, but there is much more to this encounter with Jesus. It’s not really about money; it’s about the heart.

We jumped back into our Real ID series as Josiah shares a message from Ephesians 1:7-8 on Redemption & Forgiveness. Listen as we consider together the way in which these immense blessings God has given us in Christ make us who we are!

This is Missions Conference weekend at ECC! In addition to special programs on Saturday evening and Sunday morning (see below for details), Josiah will share a message at Connexion called "Thinking BIG about Missions."

Ryan O'Dowd of Cornell University's Chesterton House Christian Study Center is our fall missions conference speaker and will help us consider the ways in which wisdom can be spoken into the university context. This week's Scripture passage is 1 Cor. 1:18-24.

Jesus' openness to sinners has always made the self-righteous cringe. At the same time, it moves sinners to faith, opens the door to forgiveness, and engenders beautifully extravagant acts of love and devotion. Come see what God has for us in the heart-stirring gospel story.

This paralyzed man was brought to Jesus and as such was completely dependent on the persistent faith of his friends. They loved their friend, they believed in Jesus, and the paralyzed man was the beneficiary of their faith. It is often true that we serve as the "faith link" between others and Jesus.

Josiah Leuenberger takes a look at the doctrine of election and its connection to mission, going all the way back to Abraham who was chosen and blesses so that he would be a blessing to the nations.

This is the first message in our new fall series - Real ID. This series will explore the blessings followers of Jesus Christ have in Him and how these spiritual realities transform who we really are. Ephesians 1:1-14 will serve as our framework for this series. Josiah will kick things off this Sunday with a message on what it means for followers of Christ to be blessed in Him with "Every Spiritual Blessing."

This centurion "outsider" was bold (perhaps desperate) enough to approach Jesus and humble enough to ask for help. Some might call it an opportunistic faith, but Jesus saw a simple, confident faith and called it remarkable faith. Consider with us this story and how it might reshape our ideas about faith.

Pastor Bob Whitaker speaks about the unique challenges and opportunities a Christian faces in the university.

This week’s passage lays out Jesus’ call to Peter to step into the middle of the greatest story ever told by trusting Him in faith and joining Him in the mission of proclaiming the Good News. Join us as we explore Peter’s call and the implications of this defining moment on our lives as followers of Christ today.

In this passage we see a man named Zacchaeus who had a planned but yet unexpected encounter with Jesus. Zacchaeus might have wished to be anonymous but upon encountering Jesus he dropped his guard and became totally honest with the Lord. It changed his life forever – honesty with God always produces change.

Several members of our Cx ministry team and upperclassmen share one thing they wish they would have known about their faith in Christ and a specific topic when they were in college (or earlier in their college career). Topics include: career, dating, personal identity, "Living the College Dream," and more.

Surely forgiveness is the most remarkable divine demonstration of grace that anyone can imagine or experience. John 8 tells a story of this remarkable gift from God, a gift that is the epitome of Jesus’ life and teaching. Divine forgiveness is wonderful, but to be fully appreciated it must be fully embraced – it requires both offer and acceptance.

Listen to Josiah as he leads us in thinking together about what it means for us to go "all in" in the way we approach our faith in Christ this year.

At least one thing is clear from Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus – knowing about God is not the same thing as knowing God. Being religious is not the same thing as having a relationship with God. We've heard Jesus' words, "you must be born again" so many times, but sometimes familiarity eclipses the meaning of words. Let’s go back to that encounter and try to understand it again.

Josiah Leuenberger gets the new school year kicked off with the first message in the series "This Year in Your Faith".

John the Baptist has several encounters with Jesus, the first coming while he is still in the womb of his mother. All these various encounters with Jesus tell a story of faith. As we consider John’s encounters with Jesus we realize that faith is not a static reality but a life-long experience.

This week we will return to our theme passage and consider how the good news is about justice. In the words of the prophet Amos, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

This week we return to our theme passage and consider how the good news is about compassion. Scripture teaches that God is the protector of the poor and needy. So, how are we called to participate in this particular activity of God?