Church Theme for 2025

Tim Keller once said that Romans 8 is one of the heaviest and most challenging passages in all of scripture. It is not that the message is heavy; in fact, the message is incredibly joyful and liberating. But the passage's implication —that there is new life available through the work of the Spirit for us and in us—is profound. So profound that if we grasp it, it would change our lives profoundly, forever.

January through February we focused on just one chapter: Romans 8 which mentions the Holy Spirit 21 different times.  We encouraged the congregation to memorize the chapter alongside the teaching series.

In 2009, Francis Chan released Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. The title alone reveals his concern: while the Western church deeply values Scripture, embraces God’s sovereignty and is committed to following Jesus, it often lacks practical experience with the Holy Spirit. One reason for this seems clear—Jesus said the Spirit “moves where it will” (John 3:8), making Him mysterious and unpredictable. And for those of us who prize doctrinal precision, mystery and unpredictability can be unsettling. Yet, Scripture has so much to say about the Holy Spirit and His ministry to the church. To ignore or diminish His work is to ignore Scripture itself. And many of these teachings? They’re undeniably strange.

This spring, we invite you to explore The Strange Things of God, a six-week sermon series diving into the charismatic gifts found in the Bible—tongues, prophecy, healing and deliverance. Each week, we’ll examine how these gifts operated in the early church and how we, as Coastline Covenant Church, can embrace them today.