Recently, our church family hosted the annual meeting of the Surry Baptist Association; and although I know that some of the meeting’s messengers and some members of our church (including this pastor) were still feeling some ‘discomfort’ about the association’s recent decision to remove Flat Rock Baptist from its membership, I’ve got to say that it was a good gathering. Through reports on recent ministries and through worship that was energetic and heartfelt, we were all reminded what powerful things can happen when God’s people choose to focus on the faith and mission that unite us, rather than being distracted by the issues about which we differ.
Later this month, we will have another opportunity to celebrate our shared faith and mission. Our church—along with several others—will sponsor a “Fellowship on the Move” gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. The event will take place on Thursday, November 10, at Flat Rock Baptist Church and will include a dinner (at 5:30 PM), a selection of training sessions (6:30 PM), and a time of worship (7:30 PM). The evening will not dwell on business sessions or theological debates – just brothers and sisters in Christ encouraging one another to walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1).
I hope that we can embrace and turn out for gatherings like these—not just because these are partner organizations which we support and which it therefore behooves us to understand—but because there are at least a couple of key truths that our relationship with these partners underscores.
First, they remind us that we are a body. When we give our hearts and lives to Jesus, we do more than make a decision that brings us personal spiritual blessings. We get incorporated into the Church (and not just a church—as in Calvary Baptist Church—but THE CHURCH: the one great family of faith that spans every tribe and nation and people and language and generation and denomination and theological persuasion…) and as members of The Church, we belong to each other. We need the gifts that others offer, and they need ours…even when we have varying opinions about worship and church leadership and the fine points of various theological debates.
Second, gatherings like these remind us that the mission is bigger than we are. We have been sent to seek and to save the world that God so loves. And no one person…no one congregation…no one association…not even one denomination…is ever going to be able to fulfill that mission alone. It takes all kinds people…all kinds of approaches…and all kinds of styles and emphases. As a result, we do well to partner with others (and not just with our dollars, but also with our prayers and our hands-on ministry) because when we do so, we take one more step toward accomplishing the grander purpose for which we exist.
Come to think of it, these aren’t bad principles for us to keep in mind as we nurture our partnerships within the family that we call Calvary Baptist Church. We are a body…and the mission is bigger than we are. And so it takes all kinds of folks—folks who like traditional worship and folks who like contemporary worship…folks who like the SBC and folks who like the CBF…folks who are financially secure and folks who are financially struggling…folks who need grace and…(well, that includes all of us, don’t you think?)—it takes all of us to be the Christ-centered, caring church that God has called us to be.
I’m so thankful to be part of this body, and I can’t wait to see all the things that God will do within and among and through us as we partner in mission together. May God bring us together around the cross of our Savior, and may His love compel us to offer our lives to Him, to each other, and to the mission that we share.