A continuation of the series: "The Real Event"

There are no Growth Group notes this week, as the current term has ended and the first term of 2011 will begin the week of January 9th. If you haven't joined a Growth Group yet and would like to get plugged in, contact Leah in the church office at 503-656-8582 or e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To help individuals of all ages Live Love in intimate relationship with God and people.

How will we help people Live Love?

We believe everything begins with God and His love for us. God, through Christ, lived love toward humanity and the result is our hope in Christ. As a result of placing our hope in Christ, we come into relationship with Him through faith. In relationship with Christ, we are called to and motivated by the Holy Spirit to love God and love our neighbor.

Now, for the person who is in relationship with God, the cycle begins again with Him working through us. In Him and by His Spirit in us, we are compelled to Live Love toward humanity, all nations, starting in our "Jerusalem". We live love because we have overflowing hope in Christ and we inspire others to place their hope in Christ. We live love because we have a zealous love for God and our neighbor and it compels us beyond ourselves. In order to live love it will require that we take risks by faith in our Almighty God.

Our aim is to help individuals grow to Live Love through …

• God’s Word
• Worship
• Prayer
• Spirit-Filled Living
• Relationships
• Service
• Evangelism

Key Scriptures that direct our sense of mission:

• Matt 22:37-40, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
• Matthew 28:19-20,Therefore go (carries the idea “as you are going”) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
• John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
• 2 Cor 5:14-15, For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Oregon City Evangelical has a history of worship and service in Oregon City dating back to 1885, when Josiah Bowersox held the first meeting in the home of John Deireinger. Despite turning 125 in 2010, OCEC is younger than you might think! Since beginning in a house, the church is now in its third location and is home to three services each Sunday morning with classes for all ages. We offer programs for children, Jr High, Sr High, women, men, marriages, seniors (55+), and a young adult meeting. The church is alive with babies, children, teens and adults of all ages! While OCEC started as a church for German immigrants, we now speak the language of many generations who are seeking to find and build a relationship with God.

Our church is motivated to serve. We find joy in devoting several days each year to serving around our community. We have helped at homes, schools, city facilities and care centers. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, we provide food boxes and gifts for needy families. We are blessed to provide food for 30+ children at Mt Pleasant Elementary weekly through their Back Pack Buddies program. We are excited to offer Shelter Homes where we assist families to get back on their feet and thrive again.

A believer in Jesus is to become a disciple of Jesus. A place to begin is to enter into the attitude that is found in Jesus Christ; one of humble obedience to God. As one pursues humble obedience to God, they will experience the grace and fruit of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read that the following virtues become fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of a growing disciple of Jesus: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The following steps are modeled after the 12 Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. If a disciple of Jesus will incorporate these steps into their life we believe they will see the fruit of the Spirit developing in their life and they will be more prepared to Live Love.

1. Admit that I am powerless over sin - that my life has been controlled by my sinful nature.
2. Believe that God is greater than me, and through faith in Jesus, He can restore me to righteousness character.
3. Turn my will and life over to the care of God by His Holy Spirit.
4. Invite the Holy Spirit to make a searching moral inventory of my life, and fearlessly receive what He says.
5. Admit to God, to myself, and to another human being, the exact nature of my wrongs.
6. Willingly turn to God, entirely ready to have Him remove all these defects of Character.
7. Humbly ask God to remove my shortcomings, fill me with His Spirit and use whatever means and disciplines necessary to bring forth the Character of Christ in me.
8. Make a list of all persons I have harmed, and be willing to make amends to them all.
9. Make direct amends to each person where possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Daily ask God to search me and I search myself, willingly confessing sin and admitting my wrong.
11. Seek through the disciplines God reveals to me in His Word to improve my contact with God and praying for greater knowledge and power to carry out His will.
12. Having a new spiritual life through faith in Jesus Christ, I will do my best to carry this message to other sinners and to allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to burst forth from my life as I walk in step with the Spirit.

1. The Triune God
   We believe there is but one true and living God, a Trinity of one substance and power, and coeternal, namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
   Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14
2. Jesus Christ is the Son of God
   We believe in the deity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to glory, in His coming again.
   Acts 17:3; Matthew 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Acts 1:9-11
3. The Holy Spirit
   We believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from and is one Being with the Father and the Son, and convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
   John 15:26-27; Acts 5:3-4; John 16:8-11
4. The Bible is God's Word
   We believe the Holy Scriptures in their entirety are the inspired, inerrant, written Word of God. They alone contain the will of God as far as it is necessary for us to know it for our salvation. By the Holy Scriptures we understand those sixty six canonical books of the Old and New Testament.
   2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21
5. Humanity is separated from God through sin and in need of God's grace
   We believe that through the transgression of Adam man is fallen from original righteousness and apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not only entirely destitute of holiness, but is inclined to evil, and that continually, and except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
   Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:10-18; Romans 3:23-26
6. God has provided the way of Salvation through Jesus Christ
   We believe that God was in Christ reconciling the work to Himself and that Christ's death on the cross was the perfect and sufficient sacrifice.
   John 3:16; Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:12
7. The Spirit-filled, Spirit directed life
   We believe in the Spirit-filled life and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit resulting from the total consecration of the believer to the whole will of God.
   1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 6:11-14; Romans 12:1-2
8. Security of The Believer
   We believe that the believer is secure in Christ as long as he/she walks in obedience and faith.
   Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:12
9. The Second Coming of Christ
   We believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ.
   Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
10. Resurrection, Judgment, and Future State
    That there is a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. All stand under the righteous judgment of God, both now and in that day. Those that are saved will inherit eternal life; those that are lost eternal punishment.
    John 5:22; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Matthew 25:41

Excerpts taken from: The Discipline of the Evangelical Church.