Continuing the series on the Body of Christ, Pastor Shannon talks about the importance of unity in the body. A few weeks ago we saw that diversity is part of the beauty of the church. But diversity works best when lived out in unity. Read Ephesians 4:1-16.
In this season of Advent Pastor Shannon has been focusing on the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and the different aspects of Peace that Jesus brought when he came to earth. This week read Ephesians 2:11-22 as we study about the unity that comes through Christ, unity that is peace.
Sermon: Peace as Unity
In our latest series on this space, we have been attempting to form appropriate responses to three questions asked by the leaders of our movement. Jonathan started us off by framing an answer to the purpose of the Church of God movement. Joe and David each gave us a response to the Church of God’s unique contribution to the Kingdom. And Shannon began to help us think about what this would all mean as we move forward. In this entry, I will attempt to respond to Shannon’s thoughts:
Upon what should the Movement focus going forward?
In a world that is rapidly changing, we see Christ communities of various forms struggling to remain both relevant and counter-cultural. To try to form a few coherent thoughts about moving forward is a big task. But try we must, so we press on. Continue reading
What is the unique contribution that the Movement makes to the
Kingdom in the world today?
In a recent post, Joe gave us an excellent starting point to the discussion of this second “Why” question, the second of three questions posed by our General Director Jim Lyon about the purpose and mission of the Church of God at this stage in our life together. In this space, I will identify a few strengths of Joe’s argument and then sum up, hopefully, a concise, one-sentence answer to the above question. Continue reading
Why does the Church of God Movement exist today?
There’s no more important question for us to answer, and answer well, because how we answer this one question will define how we go forward from here. Jonathan began the process of putting together a purpose statement for the movement, and I appreciate his willingness to press into the fact that identifying a purpose will necessarily require us to speak about what makes us distinct from other church denominations or movements.
But nowadays distinctives scare us.
I don’t know if we’re afraid of offending people, or we’re afraid that by saying we are distinct from other groups in the church sounds like we’re dividing the body of Christ, but the idea makes a lot of people squeamish. Distinctives don’t have to divide us however. In fact, the body metaphor itself helps us see where distinctives are good. I want the parts of the various systems of my body to be distinct from one another. If they’re not then I have a serious problem. The key is that all the parts and systems must be working together for a singular goal, the overall health and growth of the body at large. To that end, its important for us to ask this second question as we seek to identify our purpose for the next chapter of the Church of God. Continue reading
It is not the job of other people to be God’s missionaries. It is our job, because we are God’s people!
David used these two sentences to end his post how the Church of God has as a part of our identity the call to be a missionary church. David’s post highlighted the fact that God has worked through people to be a blessing to the world for his sake since the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. I would argue that it goes even further back than that. One of the significant threads that runs right through the whole of scripture is God’s design to use men and women as his representatives in the world. And it’s by going all the way back to creation that I believe the Church of God must find our roots for being just what the title of these posts call us to be, A missionary CHURCH.
Unity, not uniformity. Diversity, not division. Jonathan’s two main points about the nature of the church are well taken. God intends for churches, movements, and denominations to be marked by these characteristics. And yet I wonder if we can push this in a different direction: toward the local church.
That the Church should be one is not debated. The Bible makes it pretty clear that God’s intention for the Church is oneness. Jesus, in the garden before his betrayal, fervently prays that his followers will all be ONE (John 17:21). Paul makes it pretty plain in his letters that all believers are baptized into ONE Church, part of ONE body (1 Cor. 12:12-31; Eph. 4:1-16).
But, while we do not doubt that the Church should be one, we seem to have a lot of questions and disagreements over how we get there, and what that looks like practically. Well I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but I can throw out some food-for-thought and maybe encourage further discussion.
Beloved how this perfect love unites us all in Jesus!
One heart, and soul, and mind we prove the union heaven gave us.
It seems there are a number of definitions of what it means to be “holy” or to live a “holy life.” Even in the Church of God, a holiness movement, there are a number of people who believe deeply in holiness living, but would define this differently from one another. Often, we hear holiness defined as what we don’t do. “I believe in living a holy life, therefore I do not …” You can fill in the blanks. What we find in the Scriptures, however, is that holiness has much more to do with our relationships with God, others, and ourselves. “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus was asked. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.” Continue reading
Growing up in the Church of God, talk of being “born again” was something about which I heard a lot. The struggle for me came when my experience and relationship with God did not reflect this one, pivotal moment, when I turned from a lifetime of sin and became a new person. Eugene Peterson describes discipleship as a “Long Obedience in the Same Direction” and that is a good description of how I have understood my own faith story. Sure, I had the time when I was 5 years old and I asked my parents to pray with me, following a church service where a Southern Gospel group had come to sing and, apparently, scare the living daylights out of a 5 year old with a hellfire-and-brimstone-type message. And maybe we could point to that moment as my moment of conversion. But as an adult, looking back on my faith journey, I see transformative seasons in my life, where I was being born again.