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HISTORY IN THE
BEGINNING
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| On
a fall evening in October 1997 a handful of people gathered in
the home of Dan and Tracy Lewis to
pray about starting a new and different kind of church…a
church for the un-churched. A place where people who were far from
God would feel safe, ask their questions, and discover what it
means to be fully devoted followers of Christ. SoulRio was God’s
idea. Jesus said, “I will build My church and the gates of
hell will not prevail against it.” And the Bible says, “He
who began a good work in you will complete it.” God put a
dream in their hearts as they gathered together on their knees
in prayer. He began a work that night and He used some very regular
people to step-out in extraordinary faith. SoulRio is all about
ordinary people living out the purposes of God in a biblically
functioning local church community. In 1998 public weekend services
began and over the last five years Soulrio reached crowds of over
700 people at times.
In October of 2000, God brought together another group of risk-takers to pray and seek God’s direction for SoulRio. The staff and leaders became convinced that in order to really reflect the New Testament model of community, SoulRio would need to become a network made up of small communities all throughout our city, that live out God’s purposes. They decided to live out what they were learning about group life and take the time to experience it for themselves. They wanted to not just “teach” what they were learning, but to take the time to “catch” it and experience it, however long it would take. After 7 months, that first group gave birth to seven groups with seven God-called servant leaders. Those seven groups reflected the same values (DNA) of the first group. They all had a strong foundation of values for group life, and were empowered to live out those values as the New Testament church. We use the terms Rio Link, relational church, and simple church interchangeably. For us "church" means small family-like units that are learning to love God and their neighbor. SoulRio is, in reality, a collection of home churches called Rio Links. Those Rio Links are growing and multiplying all over Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. We have identified over 50 homes where the churches meet that are connected with the SoulRio network. Rio Links meet all throughout the week and Weekend Services are every Sunday at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. at Cibola High School. For us, Rio Links are like a family and our Weekend Services are like a family reunion. One might miss a family reunion once in a while, but everyone must be connected to a family. | |||
