The Purpose of the Church
The theme of this Fall semester has been Church as Community as Family. We have been exploring what exactly the Church is according to the Bible. We’ve been tackling important questions like “Do we need to go to Church?”, “What/Who is it for?”, “What is the purpose?”, and more.
It’s been wonderful as we have been allowing the New Testament to guide us in our mission to BE the Church God so desires. We are aiming to be a community that is more than just people gathering as if it is just a club. We aim to be a community that loves one another deeply. More than just having a good time and feeling good together, we want to develop much depth in our relationships. And when depth is formed in relationships that involves dealing with pain, disappointment, hardships, and, of course, sin. But the love we depend on is the love of Christ. And the love of Christ conquers all. So we continue to gather together asking for the Spirit to fill us and our gracious Father has. I definitely see us growing together in Christ, trust increasing, grace increasing, love increasing. It’s a beautiful thing.
That’s only half of it, too. In our commitment to Church, we have also been appropriately placing our focus on the Great Commission. The threat of focusing inward and being in a bubble is so dangerous so we are desperately remembering the call God has given His Church. In the beginning of the fall semester and even earlier this past summer, God has been growing my heart for not just Virginia campus but the communities around the church location in Sterling. Amazingly enough, after bringing it up to different people within our Oikos, basically everyone has been thinking the same thing. So this past Oikos meeting, we prayed, brainstormed, and shared different ideas on how we can reach out to the community around us as a group. God is definitely stirring something up!
I came across a few video clips of Francis Chan speaking on the Purpose of Church. They are very relevant to our theme this semester and Francis Chan does a wonderful job communicating biblical truth on the purpose of Church. So when you find the time, I encourage you to watch them!
Sincerely,
Eric
