Tag: 1 Corinthians 12

All Together Now

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Growing churches often encounter growing pains. That’s only natural, but unless we know how to successfully navigate them, they can prove to be real impediments to seeing that growing momentum continue. God is doing a work right now at this church, and we are seeing and experiencing growth in many exciting ways. With that in mind, we are having a conversation about potential growing pains for us as church and how to navigate them well. Last time we talked about the essential nature of worship and how it can provide a strong foundation for sustainable growth. This week we are talking about how God designed the church to work. Let’s dive in together.

All Together Now

I am not a car guy. Never have been. I really don’t have any level of mechanic skills at all. Well, that’s not totally fair. I can do a few things. I can start the car. I have that one down pretty well. I know how to check the oil. I know how to change an air filter. A tire too. Noah and I worked together with a couple of YouTube videos to install a backup camera on his car. But when it comes to the engine and its operation I’ve got nothing. Not a single thing. I mean, I know the basic theory of what’s happening, but when it comes to what the various parts are, how they work, and what to do when they don’t, I might as well be looking at a jet engine. 

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Membership Matters

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After taking a week off last week to enjoy some time away with the family, we are back on it this week, continuing in our teaching series, Nuts and Bolts. For these few weeks, we are talking about the church, what it is, and how to get it right. After spending the first two parts of the series looking at the big picture of what the church is, starting today we are beginning to unpack how the church was designed to work. And, like the basic unit of operation when it comes to the human body is the cell (yes, there’s a good argument to be made that proteins fit that bill a bit better, cells work as an okay metaphor here), the basic unit of operation when it comes to the body of Christ is the church member. So, this week, we are talking about church membership. While much of this is going to wind up being focused on my own congregation, the ideas here are broadly applicable. Consider how they might apply to you and your situation. Enjoy.

Membership Matters

So, the other night we were all sitting around the table eating dinner together, and the subject came up of what the boys are currently learning in school. One of them said that he had been learning about the cell. I still remember sitting in science classes in 8th and 9th grade and learning about all the various parts of the cell. I remember rather distinctly the fact that there are a lot of parts. To be such tiny things, cells are really pretty complicated. They are a work of engineering magic that is absolutely unrivaled by anything we’ve ever created. 

We didn’t use to understand this. Used to be, biologists thought cells were just little blobs of goo that really didn’t do very much except to provide the basic structure and framework for an organism. Then we built better microscopes, and discovered there’s a whole world of complexity and function down there that we are only just beginning to grasp. For tiny things, cells are a big deal. Your body is composed of roughly 37 trillion cells of about 200 different types. Any single one of them by itself doesn’t do much and doesn’t seem to matter. After all, what’s one cell out of 37 trillion? But without all of them collectively doing what they do, there would be no you. One part may not seem to make much of a difference by itself, but when you combine that one part with a whole bunch of other parts, some pretty incredible things start to become possible. 

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Becoming Who You Are

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I did not preach yesterday morning. I was celebrating the wedding of my college roommate this weekend. In Detroit. In March. Anyway, while I did not preach this weekend, I was given the opportunity to speak to our local association’s pastor’s gathering last week. Here’s the message I gave them. If you are a leader in your local church, and you feel like your church could be more than it is right now, this is a message you’re going to want to catch. What I shared with the pastors last week was the secret to setting your church on the track of becoming fully who God designed her to be. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Becoming Who You Are

Have you ever tried to go somewhere blindfolded? Maybe someone’s done that to you as a kind of team-building exercise or an object lesson of some sort. How’d you do? I suppose it depends on where we are. I mean, if I’m at home, I’m going to feel fairly confident. I know where all of our stuff is—you know, minus all the surprises the kids leave in the floor—and feel like I could probably navigate my way around it to reach some goal without the benefit of sight. If you were to take me out of that environment and put me somewhere unfamiliar, though, that confidence level is going to drop like a stone. Even if you were to just put me in my front yard, I’d be moving around pretty carefully, not to mention slowly. It’s hard to get somewhere when we can’t see where we’re going. 

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