Church Life: Recent Episodes
David W. Hegg
Let’s face it ... we have a consumeristic streak in us that wants what it wants wherever it can find it. And while, in our heads we know the Church doesn’t exist for us, we too often think it does, and treat the Body of Christ like Amazon. When we need or want something, we engage Amazon and expect to get what we want, when we want it, with little or no inconvenience. But is this really how to get the most out of the Body of Christ? Or is it our Savior’s desire that we see the church as His way of gathering together a group of people to care for and serve one another as they pursue a common mission? Today we start a 2-week series on Church Life. Our purpose? Simply to remind ourselves that, as Christ-followers, we are not only privileged to be united to the Savior. We are also called by Christ into union with the brothers and sisters of Grace Baptist Church, to serve in mutual love while pursuing the mission of Christ through Grace to our world together.
We’ve all heard about the little girl who, when asked, “how do you get to heaven?” replied, “I guess you get on the disciple ship!” But, it turns out discipleship is no joke. In fact, it is just another way of saying you are following Christ. But what does that mean? This weekend we ask some important questions about discipleship and ask God the Spirit to help us obey the answers we find.
This weekend, we explore leadership at Grace Baptist Church. With leadership comes power, and with power comes great benefit, and great risk! When we align our practice of leadership and the use of power with the Bible’s prescriptions and descriptions, we find God’s paradigm for godly leadership in the church.
This weekend we begin a short series on Church Life. What is a church anyway? And what does it look like to invest in our shared mission of making and multiplying Christ-followers who magnify the glory of God? How is our church led, and what are our core values? We will explore these questions together, but today we begin by asking “What is Grace Baptist Church?”.
Why should those who follow Christ join a local church as members participating joyfully in the mission of Christ? After all, you won’t find a membership process or list in the New Testament! Yet, the fact is, you cannot understand the New Testament’s description of, or exhortations to, the local church without recognizing they absolutely knew who was ‘with them’ and who wasn’t. Here at Grace Baptist Church we believe being a partner, and joining the membership of our church is a great privilege, bringing both wonderful ministry opportunities, and the personal satisfaction of obeying the call of Christ.
Let’s face it ... we have a consumeristic streak in us that wants what it wants wherever it can find it. And while, in our heads we know the Church doesn’t exist for us, we too often think it does, and treat the Body of Christ like Amazon. When we need or want something, we engage Amazon and expect to get what we want, when we want it, with little or no inconvenience. But is this really how to get the most out of the Body of Christ? Or is it our Savior’s desire that we see the church as His way of gathering together a group of people to care for and serve one another as they pursue a common mission? Today we start a 2-week series on Church Life. Our purpose? Simply to remind ourselves that, as Christ-followers, we are not only privileged to be united to the Savior. We are also called by Christ into union with the brothers and sisters of Grace Baptist Church, to serve in mutual love while pursuing the mission of Christ through Grace to our world together.