In video gaming, there’s a popular series called Dark Souls. The games are known for their punishing difficulty that encourages the player to learn through repetition.
 Live, die, repeat.

(Anyone else see Edge of Tomorrow? Underrated sci-fi movie. Emily Blunt is a gem. But I digress)

On top of this, Dark Souls games also have you carry your game currency with you at all times. When you die, you drop all of it. You can go back and retrieve it, but if you die again before you get it, it’s gone forever.

This adds a whole new level of stress to a game that already cascades anxiety onto the player.

I’m not making it sound fun, am I? The games are super fun, I promise.
As you navigate through these brutal lands, clinging tight to your currency, there is one sight that always gives a sigh a relief.

A small campfire with a single sword stuck into the ground within the center of the flames.

A bonfire.

A bonfire!

This is not just a site of warmth, this is a place that players can teleport back to the area where they can spend their currency, making sure they can no longer lose it. Each one also becomes the new place that players come back to after they die, ensuring their forward progress isn’t lost.

This is a save point.

They’ve been in video games for decades. Places where gamers know that, if they fail, this is where they return to, a place where they can evaluate their strategies and go back into the world. Gamers know save points as a place of comfort, a place where they can lay down their burdens, a place where they can celebrate their forward progress and move beyond their past failures.

It’s a lot like a church.

In Acts 2:46-47 we see a picture of the early church, “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

We see people gathering together, sharing food, giving generously, praising God, sharing joys, and on and on. We see people loving one another in Christ, and because of this, the Lord added to their number daily.

Think about it, the purpose of a church isn’t just a place to come a sing some songs and listen to a sermon. A church is a community, a place where believers come to join with others and celebrate victories, comfort one another in struggles, help one another lay down their burdens, and all with the goal of supporting one another in their walk with Christ. We gather with believers to celebrate the truth that, through Jesus, we are forgiven, and can approach each day renewed.

Churches are, in many ways, like save points.

And yet, there are so many people who don’t have a community like this. So many people go through life without a community to help support them. Yes, there are many types of community out there, but there is nothing like a community united in Christ.

We want to help people find this kind of community. We want to help them find a community of believers who will encourage a life with Christ. A place where they can celebrate joys, confess sins, share hobbies, and be loved through it all.

We want to help people find a save point.