Bigger things...

Here's my thought: why do we try to do so much alone when we can do so much more together? I look at all the synergy (yes, I stole the corporate buzz word) created through the ministerial alliance and youth ministerial alliance here in El Dorado, and I am floored. There is more potential and, most importantly, willingness here to be the Church than to be a church. Just looking at what there is between the churches is incredible: we're looking at adding other churches into our after school program to make it a larger endeavor and help more kids have a safe place to go to and get help with school work. At the same time we're planning other events that none of us could pull off alone (like a kicking New Years party) and it rocks!

Why then do so many churches behave instead as if they were the only ones in the world that mattered? Is it a deep seeded denominational fight? Or is it the theological differences (like infant or immersion baptism, predestination or free choice, liturgy or contemporary, etc.) that cannot be overcome? Personally, I am looking forward to the day when denominational ties are never in the way of what Jesus is doing. When we allow our personal issues to get in the way of the advancement of the kingdom of God, we've got some serious issues! I look at it as the greatest sin we can commit next to completely rejecting Jesus' sacrifice for us! Why? Because to hinder the kingdom of God for a petty reason (I don't like the _____________ [insert denominational name here] because they're too ________________ [insert distasteful distinctive here]) is tantamount to denying Jesus' sacrifice! If we reject the moving of God thru His body, the Church (that means each of us, not a church), it means we are rejecting the rest of the body or as my mother used to say, "You'd cut off your nose to spite your face." Each of our individual churches has something important to offer the body of Christ at large and we are not complete without their parts!

That is why doing things in unity by focusing on the essentials (God is, the Bible is God's word to us, People are God's treasure, Jesus is God and Savior, the Holy Spirit is God and empowerer, Salvation is by faith alone, the Church is God's plan, the future is in God's hands) is so key to reaching a lost and dying world. If the Church (God's people called by His name) cannot work together and put aside differences, what's the point? You wouldn't want to be a part of a group that just fought among themselves all the time would you? Yet that is all too often the Church: fighting each other when we need to focus on "rescuing the perishing." What can you do to "rescue the perishing"? Simple: know what you believe, own the beliefs as yours, and become known for those beliefs. Do that, and the world changes. So, go out and be a uniter, a lover, and a fighter. Change the world by taking Jesus to people who need Him, and not jsut words, but powerful love and unity filled action.

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