Learning to live is the short version of our purpose and vision as a church and as followers of Christ.

When we say we're learning from and living for Christ, it means we want to actually apply the truths from the Bible in our everyday lives. It's the balance of solid faith and spiritual fruitfulness. This is transformed living.

But what many have mistakenly done is boil down Christianity to a set of beliefs— you are "in" if you believe these things. There is no measurement of changed lives or changed behavior, just belief.

And while faith-filled belief is primary and sufficient for salvation, it is scandalous to leave it at that. There is more to the story of salvation! Ephesians 2:8-10 says this:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Clearly we are not saved by works, only by faith. But works are expected of faithful people. Faith comes first and it produces works, not the other way around.

Jesus says you either follow me or you don't. And here's what following me looks like: Learn from me and live for me; if you follow me, you'll do what I say (John 14:15; Matt. 25:31ff.). So at Hillside we are learning to live. We don't have it all figured out. But we know that Jesus is the one we are following and we are learning to be better disciples— orienting our lives more and more around him and the kingdom of God.