We Believe In Community - WE

TALK ABOUT HOSPITALITY AND BUILDING HELPS

Small groups and pastoral care are something we’re going to talk more about in later weeks

This month, we’re going to go through this statement - ‘We Believe in Community’. I believe that this is God’s vision and direction for us.

I believe that there’s 3 core value pieces about this statement that we need to embrace at a church. Today, i wanted to talk about the first part.

WE

Starting off - we need to understand that God’s design for the Church is a giant community. Being a community of believers is absolutely foundational to being a part of the Christian experience.

And there’s many ways to express this idea of ‘believing in community’. I could say, ‘Believing in Community’. I could say, ‘A community of believers’, or a ‘community of faith’.

But I really, truly believe that the concept of ‘WE’ needs to start off this vision for our church. It’s not just, ‘Believing in Community’. It’s ‘WE believe in community.’

WE own that idea. WE power that idea.

It’s not ‘This church is great because Pastor Jon believes in community’ or ‘Come on out, the greeters really believe in community’.

The most foundational thing that we need to accept as a church is this:

We are all asked to do God’s work in his Church.

Now, I want to be clear. This isn’t saying that every week, every person does every job. Or even that every week, everybody does something. Balance and rest is healthy - that’s why we’re doing this volunteer drive, to give our existing volunteers more rest by getting more help!

The bible gives us an expectation in regards to whether we should be serving or not.

1 Peter 4:10 NIV

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Now, we unconsciously limit what kind of gifts we think actually do God’s work

Being a good public speaker or an evangelist is helpful - being someone who knows how to bake or how to file paperwork isn’t useful.

We equate ‘vocally spreading the gospel’ with ‘doing God’s work’ and that’s not a distinction that the bible makes

Spreading the gospel is the most essential thing that we need to do. But it’s not ‘If i’m not currently communicating the gospel, i’m not doing God’s work’.

The point is, ‘You have a gift - so use it to serve others’.

The bible literally calls this ‘being a steward of God’s grace’. A steward is defined as a person who is responsible to look after, care for, or distribute something. The bible is literally saying, ‘Use whatever gifts you have because we all are responsible for spreading God’s grace’

We are all a part of the body of Christ - and it works like a real body. The hand may be what grabs things, but imagine how far the hand would go if...

Today, I talked about the ‘hospitality’ and ‘building helps’ ministries at the church. Maybe all you can do is bake (and believe, that’s not an ‘all’, I love baked goods). Maybe you can’t even bake, but you know how to buy baked goods. Or maybe you are a coffee or a tea fanatic. But a group of people who would step up and say ‘Yknow what, we want to make this coffee and snack table the best it can be’, you’d be AMAZED the kinds of conversations you would help start.

And it doesn’t stop there. I believe we place way too little value on hospitality in the church given how much value we place on it in our homes.

Or maybe you are a coffee or a tea fanatic.

And it doesn’t stop there. I believe we place way too little value on hospitality in the church given how much value we place on it in our homes.wprimary source of cleaning things properly, please go speak to my wife after service so she can educate you properly on why that’s a bad idea). Help to decorate, or layout, to make the space feel more warm and welcome. Turn the coffee table into a fantastic coffee and snack center. Help make the environment around any event we do the best it can be.

And here’s something WE ALL can do every week - just be more welcoming. If you have a guest over, you don’t say ‘Hey! Welcome to my home!’ and then continue interacting with just your family like they aren’t even there. When you have a guest over, you include them, you involve them.

Sooner or later, if that guest comes frequently enough, something changes. They raid your fridge, they discipline your kids, they probably have some chores too. If you have a guest come frequently enough to your place, they aren’t a guest anymore. They are family. They are part of your community now.

And that’s the goal - to build our community. and WE all do it together.

If you consider yourself part of the family here at the church, then it’s your job to welcome our guests to ‘our home’. And not just ‘hey, welcome! Nice to meet you’. Think about it just like a guest in your own home. And I guarantee you, every single person here has the gift of being able to connect with someone else in some fashion.

1 Corinthians 3:4–5 NIV

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 NIV

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

Paul blasted the idea that a body of believers would identify itself only through the work of it’s ‘leader’ or it’s ‘leadership team’.