Christ City Church Memphis

Parenting has always been a challenge and seems to be more complicated than ever today. What we may not realize is that all of us have the opportunity to be in a parenting role of one kind or another- which means the challenge of parenting applies to us all. Join us as we answer the question “How does our understanding of being a child of God inform our roles as parents?”

Have you ever learned something new about a friend and that new understanding helped you feel like you knew them better? This can highlight our propensity to mistake familiarity with understanding. Its times like these we need a shake up to remember things can be more than what we have come to see them as. What if Jesus’ gospel message is this way-something we are familiar with but still have much to discover. Join us as we consider a future reimagined by a gospel that is a little less familiar and has more to teach us than we may have thought.

The fifty-day feast following the pinnacle of the Christian calendar, Easter. During Eastertide, the Church celebrated the resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ after His death by crucifixion.

Join us as we continue to explore the act of sharing life, neighborhood, possessions, and money as an active and concrete reminder of the faith we belong to through the resurrected life of Jesus the Christ.

How do you know what groups you belong to? What actions and thoughts do you engage in that remind you of your place in your family, job and world? As followers of Christ Jesus, we believe we are a part of one body collected in the wholeness of the resurrected Christ. We can sometimes forget this, but there are things we can do and think about that help us to remember. Join us as we remember together.

We all need guides in a world of uncertainty. Who will you choose to have faith in? Who can lead you into a future of hope and possibility? Is there anyone that has gone before us? (Spoiler Alert: Jesus Has).

Good Friday homily.

“Why?” The question everyone asks when suffering visits their world. During the fifth week of Lent, we delve into the role of prayer and salvation in Jesus’ suffering and our own. How can we live with faith, courage and hope in a world where we, and the ones we love, are likely to experience great suffering.

Often we prefer hiding over being seen due to feelings of shame and guilt about our story. When this is coupled with a lack of courage and hope in others it can keep us in the same hidden ruts —even if we want to change. Still, our hearts ache to be seen. How can we find the faith to walk in the light of Christ and let ourselves be seen? Listen in as we chart a path into the light.

When you think of justice what comes to mind? How is justice to be defined and understood by those of us whose first allegiance is to Christ? How do we keep the pursuit of justice as a practice in our lives? Join the conversation this Sunday as we conclude our Eight Practices series with the eighth and final practice- Pursue Justice.

What does it mean to be a merciful person? As Christians we believe that God is abundantly kind, loving and merciful and that the supreme expression of this is located in the life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus. How do we own the practice of showing mercy in our daily lives and decisions? Listen in as we explore the seventh practice in our series on the Eight Practices of Christ City.

What does it mean to be a creator of beauty in our world? How can we live with more purpose and intention by elevating beauty to an essential place in our lives? What are the barriers and counterfeits to creating beauty? Join us as we discuss these ideas and more as we explore Create Beauty- the sixth of our eight practices.

People shape culture and culture shapes people. Culture informs our view of the world and gives meaning and purpose to many of our actions. What does it look like to engage something so immersive it can be hard to distinguish how we influence it an how it influences us? As Christ followers understanding this distinction is key in practicing our faith. Join in for the discussion on our fifth practice in our series on the eight practices.

Every person bears the fingerprint of God and are therefore a unique glimpse into the Divine's multifaceted nature. Yes, so often we are content tom maintain our safety and comfortability in what is familiar and unchallenging, depriving ourselves of the growth and maturity that comes in welcoming and loving the manifold beauty in human experience. Join us as we explore the fourth practice in our series on the eight practices - Embrace Diversity.

Every human being is spiritual, this is a core belief of faith. Yet, how often do we think of actively cultivating our spirituality with the goal of producing spiritual fruit in out lives?Just like the farmer cultivates the ground for a future crop and harvest, so too, the follower of Christ cultivates their spiritual life to produce of a life of faith, hope and love. Join us as we explore the third practice in our series on the eight practices- Cultivate Spirituality.

What does it mean to be a healthy individual? Or better yet, what constitutes a healthy culture? There are a staggering number of different answers to these questions in our world today. To make it even more complex, there have been interpretations of the Christian life that have led to very unhealthy lifestyles. Join us as we explore a practice of seeking health that is deeply rooted in a Christian identity.

Many people regularly talk about “being present” or being “in the present moment.” Indeed, choosing presence is a powerful tool that can lead us into deeper communion with ourselves, others and God. In the scriptures we see many examples of how a sustained attention to what is happening in and around us can lead us into a holy awareness resulting in a life marked by compassion and empathy. So why is it so hard to actually sustain and what battles can we expect to encounter if we begin the intentional practice of presence in our lives? Join us in the first of an eight week series called the Eight Practices of Christ City Church.

When life threatens to crush all hope, the people of God have again and again relied on the deep reservoir of the dreams of the prophets. Yesterday and today, dreams are what fuel our hopes for tomorrow. Just as the coming of Jesus was once a sustaining dream in the hearts of those longing for renewal and refreshment, so we wait as expectant dreamers for his return. Join in the discussion as we participate in the third Sunday of Advent.

Have you ever waited for a problem to get better by ignoring it and hoping the passing of time would bring resolution? Dr. King once said that time is neutral and can be aligned with evil or good, but to expect that its passing will fix our problems is folly. So what do we do in this advent season? Listen in as we learn what it means to take part in an active peace that becomes the ally of time. The second week of Advent.

In the first week of advent we ask “What is missing in our lives?” Could there be a grasping for something without realizing what that something is? As we reorient ourselves to the spiritual task of expectant waiting we consider that what we are waiting for is simply to be seen- To be seen, in particular, by the luminous gaze of our Creator. Join us in this hopeful space of advent!

On the last Sunday of the church calendar we observe the celebration of Christ the King, and collectively remember to whom we belong and how we are all joined together.

What does Jesus ask from his disciples? Join us this week as we explore the demands of the Kingdom of Heaven and what our work in it is.

Have you ever had a moment where you realized something big had happened in the world and you hadn’t noticed until it was over? Life is overwhelming enough and it can be hard to focus our attention and to have the energy and passion to live with clear vision. Let’s explore what it means to stay spiritually awake in a world asleep to a purposeful good news.

Have you ever been called a hypocrite? It’s one of the most common epithets used toward someone who claims to be religious, christian or moral. Even when we try with all our might it can be difficult to integrate the person we want people to see us as and the person we are. What are the results of living a whole life pretending to be someone we are not and is there any real hope of change? Join us as we discuss hypocrisy and a life of integrity.

Scripture is replete with stories and impact of a multigenerational faith and perspective. How can we bring this far seeing awareness into our present world that is so dominated by the tyranny of "nowness"? Listen in and discover more of our purpose in the grand narrative we find ourselves in.

Everyday we are bombarded with the message More = Better. But what if this is a lie? Join us this Sunday morning as Robert Grisham teaches on the concept of Enough.

Join us this Sunday as we explore questions about who God is, belonging, and what it means to wander from the fold.

Join us this Sunday as we explore these passages and learn what our spirituality produces.

Jamin was sick last Sunday, so this week he will pick up where he left off in the two part series on discipleship. Join us as we continue to explore questions about how we grow and access our potential as human beings made in the image of God- in essence how can we become Christ-like?

Listen to the sermon "Who do you say Jesus Is?" From Ronnie

How do we grow? How do we realize our potential as unique human beings made in the image of God? Listen in as we discuss the path of a learner.

As humans we can’t help but create and we use this impulse with both noble and reckless intention. Jesus saw the material world infused with the blessing and goodness of God to the point that a sparrow does not fall without God's notice and care. Seeing through this divine paradigm means we get to take what God has given us and bless it, form it, shape it, build it, break and share it. Christ created in these ways with the bread and wine, mud on a blind man's eyes, building a community of followers, restoring those who had fallen ill, were possessed or maimed, and with water made wine.

Listen in as we move toward a greater understanding and inspiration of creating lives of purpose! The final part of our mission series.

Without wonder, our faith and life can become inflexible and rigid. At Christ City we are calling one another to a space where we can worship in wonder. This means we may have to address some of the ideas, narratives, and behaviors that crowd out the possibility of wonder in our lives. Jesus winks at this when he says the kingdom of heaven belongs to children and that we will access it only by becoming like them.

What is a child if not a being filled with wonder? Listen in as as we explore part two of the new mission of Christ City.

At Christ City Church, and as followers of Jesus, we are compelled to serve one another and our community. To serve others well we need access to our hearts. Duty and obligation alone will not sustain us. Join us this Sunday as we learn more about the first part of the new mission of Christ City Church - Serve with Heart.

Join us as we continue to explore our vision - A Place to Know God and see how belonging and believing (knowing God) are intricately and intimately connected.

Join us as we talk about the first half of our vision -- belonging.

Join us this Sunday in welcoming guest preacher Rev. Dr. Rosalyn R. Nichols. Roz is the organizing pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Memphis, TN. She is a native of Memphis, TN and proud to have graduated with honors from the historic Booker T. Washington High School and LeMoyne Owen College.

Join us this Sunday in welcoming guest preacher Vahisha Hasan. Vahisha is a faith rooted organizer with a passion for well people and well systems. She is currently serving as the Program Director at the Historic Clayborn Temple, where she plans and implements programs that support the artistic, interpretative, and community based expressions of the organization. An ordained reverend, powerful public speaker, and transformative facilitator, she has published 4 books, contributed to published works, and written curriculum for an Applied Psychology Degree Program. She holds a Master’s of Divinity and Master’s of Mental Health Counseling with an Education Specialist Certification from Gardner-Webb University. Vahisha is her best self in community and can be found moving to the end of her own rainbow in the US South.

As we explore the complex and all too familiar family dynamics of Isaac and Rebecca’s family, we reflect on what healthy expectations of God, ourselves and others look like. What does it mean to be blessed? Are you giving you giving up your blessing?

Join us as elder Amanda Wiig shares the story of the meta narrative of the Bible, pulling out specifically redemptive themes and highlighting the role of women and marginalized people.

Humans find it so easy to separate themselves from one another: through sports, politics, theology, tragedy, culture, etc. Some are certainly more welcome than others. But when these lines drawn become barriers to genuine relationship with others and Christ, which will we find ourselves valuing more? Which will we allow to define us? Join us on Sunday as we discuss how Paul sees becoming like Christ and finding Christ in others as the answer.

Who is in God’s family, and on whose behalf should God act? The answers to these questions have the power to build or destroy families and communities (and has!). Spending time with the story of Hagar and the oppression she experiences from Sarah and Abraham can help us to see family, faith, and the provision of God in a more complex, empathetic, and grounded way. Join us as we walk with Hagar in her journey of faith and the ties it has to family. Part three of three of Family Matters.

How do you deal with the ever-present gap between what you hope for in life and reality? Each of our families taught us ways to manage, engage, deny, or denounce our hope. This doesn’t always work out well. Is there a better way? Listen in as we continue exploring how family matters in life and faith. Part two of a three-part series called Family Matters.

Our faith and spirituality is inextricably tied to those we call family. Some of the most difficult, and necessary, times in every family are the seasons when someone leaves to explore who they are and to make their own choices in life. Whether we are the one leaving or letting go, how do we navigate these threshold moments in family life? Listen in to join the discussion.

What does it mean that humans are “made in the image of God?” Many have proposed that this means humans possess consciousness, rational thought, a spirit, among other things. While none of these are necessarily incorrect, do they help us in understanding what Genesis One wants to communicate? Join us this Sunday as we explore how the image of God, as understood in Genesis One, is a descriptor of humanity’s vocation or role within creation, rather than a specific attribute imbued upon humankind, and how this can inform how we live.

Sometimes we lose the capacity to be surprised by what others are capable of and how God might use them. When we find ourselves here we will almost certainly miss out on the Spirit of God’s movement in the world. Listen in as we open up to a curiosity and wonder of how God chooses to work.

What motivates you? Dreaming about the future, and imagining what God will do and how we can partner with the Divine, can inspire us and strengthen us to live with courage, wonder, and purpose in the present. Part of the series Life Goes On.

People in our culture often claim to be spiritual. This is good! We are spiritual beings. Yet our spirituality has a source and knowing that Source is what our faith claims is possible- that the great unknowable one [God] has been made known. How can we engage the infinite mystery of God in our own spiritual lives today? How could doing so make us more whole? Part of the series Life Goes On.

Have you ever noticed that when you expect to find something(or someone) in a particular place you have better chance of finding it/them? In scripture and the breaking of bread is how Jesus is revealed to the disciples who traveled down Emmaus road on the third day after His crucifixion. Join us as we continue to explore how we can do the same. Part of the series Life Goes On.