Healthy community was something that Jesus prayed for us, His future Church, to have and to be a part of. Just as He had with His Father and the Spirit. Because of this prayer, healthy community is available to us by way of the Holy Spirit, and we get to operate in it today, if we choose to. Spiritually healthy community takes work and is not easy. It calls us to be honest, broken, and vulnerable; giving space for the Spirit to work in and for us. However, in the same breath, we are called to be a safe space that responds in love to those who come to us and require us to be a safe space for them. ​ “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.” -1 John 4:7 (NLT) Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org

When someone wrongs us it’s tempting to want revenge. But in order to repair a relationship, we must fight the urge to back AT and instead be proactive in getting back TO the other person. Repairing a relationship requires someone to initiate, regardless of who’s to blame for the fallout. There’s a simple prayer you can learn to help you take that first step: Heavenly Father, help me to see ______ the way you do. Help me feel toward _____ what you feel. Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org

Many of us constantly battle with trying to live up to the expectations of others or trying to live up to my own unrealistic expectations. For others, we find ourselves wrestling with the lie of the expectations we think God has for us. If you battle with the pursuit of perfectionism you may even find yourself “almost” lying in order to show an image of yourself that’s not real. Or maybe you avoid something that you’d like to do because you’re afraid you won’t hit the standard, so you’ll avoid it altogether. Or you obsess over something to get it just right without realizing that perfectionism will hinder progress while telling yourself “this is the price I pay to be successful.” So how do we avoid the burden of perfection? Jesus tells us; “become like little children.” Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org

In Genesis 2, before sin entered the world, we see humanity before the fall, before sin. As a result, all the way through the first two chapters, God is creating and looking around and saying, “It is good. It is good. It is good.” Suddenly we get to Adam, and He is alone. And God says, “It is not good.” Adam was not lonely because he was imperfect, but because he was perfect. In other words, the ache for friends is an ache that is not the result of sin. This is the one ache that is a part of being made in the image of God. If you are lonely, if you want more friends, if you want closer friends, you are not dysfunctional; you are fine. You are lonely because you are not a tree…you are not a machine. You are lonely because you are built this way. Some of you have been so hurt by friends that you have allowed your heart to become hardened and now you say, “I don’t need friends.” But the less you want people, the less you want friends, the less like God you are, and the less like Jesus you are. ​ "They committed themselves to the teaching of apostle, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers." -Acts 2:42 (MSG)- Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. Our vision is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did so that we may love all people in Jesus' name. EthosOH.com Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community ServeColumbus.org