Our Mission Statement says we are a church that is Connecting Communities and Changing Lives. It speaks the core of our living the Christian life. It emphasizes it is to be done together.
I was recently reading a book by Lyle Schaller titled Looking In The Mirror. One of the chapters addresses the type of congregational life style exhibited by churches. He refers to three types – legalistic, ideological, and behavioral. The legalistic church emphasizes rules that govern the life of the body together, for instance a minimum age set for anyone to be a member of a governing board. The ideological church emphasizes beliefs, tending to be on polar ends of liberal or conservative spectrums. Of these churches there is a premium placed on one’s ability to articulate doctrines and one’s theological position. The third group is behavioral, emphasizing the love and nurture that is experienced in the life of the body.
I must confess that I hope we, at The Grove Church, possess some aspect of each and in each of those there is a pursuit of humility and godliness that governs our hearts and relationships to honor the Lord.
In Romans 15:7 (mouse over to read the verse) there is a statement made by Paul which Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarks on:
When God was merciful to us, we learned to be merciful with one another. When we received forgiveness instead of judgment, we too were made ready to forgive each other. What God did to us, we then owed to others. The more we received, the more we were able to give; and the more meager our love for one another, the less we were living by God’s mercy and love. Thus God taught us to encounter one another as God has encountered us in Christ. “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7).
The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more everything else between us will recede, and the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is alive between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we really do have one another. We have one another completely and for all eternity.
Excerpt From: Dietrich, Bonhoeffer. “Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible: 5.” Fortress Press, 2004-12-08
I can’t help but get the sense of the priority of Connecting Communities from this quote. I also get the sense that the behavioral aspect of church is at the center of the laws we employ and the beliefs to which we subscribe and express. We must live this out expressively if we are going to be the church God has intended for us to be. It is not only for us inside the church but it is for our community at large as well.
I trust that you will strive together in Christian Community to show and share God’s mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love, for that is what has transformed you in Jesus. I also trust that we will be committed to genuine community that the glory of God would be reflected in our lives together.