poiema
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
-Ephesians 2:10, NLT
The name, “Poiema” comes from the original Greek Paul uses for the word “masterpiece” in Ephesians 2:10. In its most basic form it means “something made,” and gives us English words such as poem and poetry. Paul uses this word to teach that each of us are uniquely created by God with a specific intent and purpose.
For us, the name, Poiema, describes a community of discovery. We believe as God’s masterpiece you have beauty. You have value. You have a reason for your being. Our desire is to walk with one another as we learn our unique worth as God’s work of art.
We are
a collective of communities sent by the Beacon to multiply and create new communities in Irvine and South Orange County.
We introduce
people to Jesus by discovering together how God creates each of us as His unique masterpiece.
We dream
of being a reflection of God’s love and grace in our city as we awaken the hopeless, hurting & hungry to their unique calling as God’s poiema.
Dear Friend,
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our vision and heart for launching a new faith movement in Southern Orange County. More than a year ago God brought together several families looking to find a fresh expression of their faith. Some of us had grown weary of the Sunday worship gatherings, Bible studies, life groups, fellowships, and programs of our church experiences. Others had grown concerned with how faith and church have increasingly become less relevant in our culture. Many of us have witnessed friends and loved ones wounded by their faith communities and generations lost because the Gospel of Jesus was undermined by a story of pain, betrayal, or hypocrisy. Yet through it all, God brought us together in hope that the stories of our faith journey’s past will not be the stories of our faith journey’s future.
While we still believe God is at work in the local church, we also know God’s kingdom is generously large with room for new ways of living out faith within the Body of Christ. When we looked at our communities, we recognized the family, friends, and neighbors who might be skeptical of an invitation to church on Sunday were less threatened when invited into our living rooms, backyards, and kitchen tables. The lack of an overlap between faith and the rhythm of everyday life has always been an unsettling reality for us. Over the last year and a half, we’ve intentionally taken the time to listen and learn how the Gospel immerses itself in our lives and relationships the other six days of the week. The process has been life-giving, and the result has been a refreshing take on faith, mission, and church.
Poiema is a collective of communities whose dream is to walk alongside the churchless as the Gospel saturates the everyday stuff of life. We long to see faith and discipleship not confined to a particular time or place, but integrated into our workplaces, classrooms, and neighborhoods. Our hope is for those who would never set foot inside the walls of a church building to still see that God loves them, has plans for them, and their reason for being is not a mistake.
We believe now is the time to launch a Gospel movement that invites people first and foremost into life together! We invite your family to get to know our family. Together, we can awaken our city to the divine beauty God always intended for life to have.
Faith, Hope, Love,
Andy Cheung
Lead Equipper
