SCRIPTURE: Acts 11:19-30

God is on a mission of redemption and His vehicle to accomplish His mission of redemption is the Church. If you are a follower of Jesus…it’s you…it’s me…we are the Church. It is us living with intentionality where God in His kindness and sovereignty has placed us to make much of Him and to live out how the gospel changes all of life.

And our theological convictions about the nature and purpose of the Church have methodological, philosophical, and strategic implications. We aren’t doing what we are doing with the Collective because we don’t have anything else to do. It’s not simply an idea that we put together because we are bored or because someone thought it was time to do something new. As we continue to study Scripture and as we take into consideration this moment in time that we find ourselves living because of the sovereignty of God, the Upstate Church Collective is a strategic outworking of biblical conviction.

The purpose of the Collective is to encourage and equip leaders for lifelong ministry…whether those leaders be church planters, current pastors or those that desire to be equipped and empowered to make disciples in their circle of influence or discover leadership gifts to lead in the church…this church…your church. You see what I hope and honestly what I have constantly been praying…is that each of you today would know that the Collective is actually for you on some level…yet it is also so much bigger than you.

As we look at the Church of Antioch in Acts 11, we see a community of believers that were committed to mobilizing Christ’s people, making disciples, partnering with other churches, and releasing their assets.

It is our desire through the Upstate Church Collective to mobilize Christ’s people, intentionally disciple those who want to make disciples, partner with like-minded gospel-centered churches in our geography, and release our assets towards kingdom work and gospel advancement.

You can learn more about how you can join and partner with the Upstate Church Collective at www.upstatecollective.org

*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.