The church is the Body and Bride
of Christ, commissioned to carry the gospel into all the world, and especially
in our local community. We reach out with the gospel of Christ to friends,
relatives, work and hobby associates and neighbors (Mark 16:15-16).
We serve in one ministry in our
local church as the Lord calls us to assist, working in an area in which we are
interested, and remaining faithful to that calling until God directs us to
serve in a new direction in our church body (Romans 12:4-5).
When we see a need, or something
that is blocking the growth of our church family, rather than complaining,
ridiculing and looking for another church, we put our hand to the plow and help
to change things for the better.
This may require that we increase
our financial giving, spend more time supporting the church leadership and
ministries, taking the initiative to ask the leadership the ways in which we
can be the most help to the Body and allowing them to equip us for this
ministry.
We do not expect our church to
have the personality, ministries, outreach and worship identical to every other
church in town, because God gives each congregation His own unique flavor to
meet the need for which He designed our particular congregation.
We faithfully pray to the Lord of
the Harvest to bring workers into the field; and we serve as an example of a
loving, outreaching, soul-winning, hardworking member of the local church where
God calls us.
When we do this, we see God's
hand faithfully supplying all the needs in our life and in the life of that
congregation; and we feel blessed to be a part of His work in our community as
we partake in the ministries of the family of God meeting in the facilities
which God provided and for which we care and contribute towards.
Prayer:
Father God, raise up
congregations across the nation that are committed to one another as Your
family. It is so easy for a person to divorce a congregation and go across town
to find one that better suits their needs, with no regard to Your will for them
in service to that original congregation. Help us to covenant together in faith
and to fellowship around the Gospel instead of the worship or preaching style,
the size of the bulletin or the amount of lights and instruments used on the
stage.
Teach us to agree on the central
truths of Your Word and to live by these truths rather than by our personal
preferences and carnal desires. Inform us about the true meaning of our
spiritual gifts and help us to find a place to use those gifts for the mutual
edification of the Body in which You call us to serve.
Remind us that contrary to
popular belief, the church is not a gathering of spectators called to criticize
the music, minister and ministries of a particular congregation. Before we were
even conceived, You called us and placed us in a certain church in order to
serve the Body in any needed ministry to which you call us (Ephesians 2:10).
Thought for the Day:
We do not discriminate in the
fellowship of the church, but we include every race, nationality, dialect and
personality; however, we do insist on members adhering to the primary
principles of the scripture and living according to its dictates rather than
the liberal, all-inclusive attitude of the world today; everyone is welcome to
attend, but God only offers membership in His family to adherents of Biblical
Truth.
