Community worth sharing

There’s a lot to love about our church community. Indeed, as one who spends a fair bit of time on the platform and who hears about things that happen, I can say, I love our church community. 

I look out and see 3 generations in many families sitting together week after week. I see faithful friends who have sat together for 60 years. I see the enormous smile on the faces of mates who save each other seats. I see the growth group that shows up when life gets hard. I see kids gathered together in quiet chats often not realising they’re growing up surrounded by parents and leaders who genuinely care for and pray for them. I see shared coffees and cakes and meals after church. I see cultures, age barriers, nationalities and social statuses being crossed and mixed week after week. 

And in all of it, I see the thankful look on so many of your faces that says you know you belong to something bigger than yourself. Church community isn't just people who sit near each other on a Sunday, it's people who gather week after week to walk through life together, to celebrate the wins and carry the burdens. It's a rare kind of connection, and it's worth sharing with others.

But it’s worth sharing not because we want to be a bigger community. Only God can make that happen.

It’s worth sharing not because we want to be the best community. That one’s found in heaven.

Church community is worth sharing because it’s founded on Jesus and the people in our lives, our neighbours, our workmates, our family, our friends, need Jesus. They need to see there's hope beyond this life, forgiveness for the past, and a God who wants to know them. They need to know that there is a judgement to come but that Jesus has already died to take away all that breaks community with God and with each other. 

This is what our Special Sundays are about. Inviting people into our community so they can meet the one who is at the centre of our community and so by faith join the eternal community God is building up by his Spirit. 

Inviting a friend to church on Sunday is not about inviting them to a community that’s perfect. It’s about inviting them to a community you know isn’t perfect but is founded on one who is. And when they meet Jesus, they’ll understand themselves, they’ll understand life and they'll understand eternity. Only the gospel can offer such wisdom, hope and joy. 

So who do you know who needs an invite to church this Sunday so they can meet Jesus and join his eternal community?