Thoughts From Chris

Recently someone shared publicly the impact their mission community was having in the lives of people in and released from jail. I have heard over the past week how impacting that story was for people.  Let me share the highlights for those who may not have heard.

Over the last couple of years people at Grace Gathering have been encouraged to develop community groups (5-10 families) and focus on a specific mission of outreach.  While these groups are reaching out, they will also in the process grow closer in their relationship with God and with one another.

One particular group began to gather together (made up mainly of people who have been at the church for a long time).  At first, it seemed to have a Bible study focus (which is the way most of the participants had experienced small group gatherings).  However, the leadership of the church strongly encouraged these small to mid-size communities to make Bible study/learning only one of  many areas of focus, rather than the dominant focus.  The goal was to have  a more holistic pursuit of community-life with an intentional focus on outreach/the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20.).

At first, this was very uncomfortable for the group.  They rather enjoyed one another’s company, enjoyed sitting around and discussing Bible studies, and preferred a safe and comfortable setting.  God then brought a new couple to the group and the woman was an assistant chaplain in the Allen County Jail.  They started hearing about needs in that arena and many of them began to realize that they had connections to the jail either by extended family, friends, or acquaintances. 

Some of them started serving at the jail in a very simple way (e.g. sorting clothes).  Some began to write letters to inmates. Some started shopping for gift bags for newly released inmates.  They got out of their comfort zone and began to try some things.

A gentleman in the area recently got out of a four year stay in prison.  He came to Jesus while he was in jail.  He called a bunch of churches in the Fort Wayne area when he got out and for some reason was led to attend a service at Grace Gathering.  That first Sunday he attended, he walked from Coliseum Boulevard to the building in New Haven. 

He then heard that Grace is a church made up of a bunch of small to mid-size communities that meet all over the city.  Someone then linked him to the house church that had recently began to focus on helping people in jail or recently released from jail.  He began attending this community, started to meet and get to know people, and also had a passion to help people who had similar backgrounds to him. 

He was staying at an Inn in Fort Wayne with no job, no car, and no money (a place many inmates stay when they are first released from jail).  The people in the house church began to sense a connection to helping people at that Inn.  Instead of simply asking people to come to them, they decided to go to them.  They served a meal at the Inn and welcomed anyone who was interested.  They got to know a few more people there and are now trying to provide them with clothing and some of the bare necessities. 

The individual who started attending this mission community started helping with some maintenance issues at the Inn, on a volunteer basis, and eventually got hired by the Inn.  Those within the community encouraged him to get baptized now that he had given his heart and life to Jesus, and the mentor of that community baptized him in a public service at Grace a week ago. 

This all started with a group of people who decided to move beyond comfort and move into the arena of true mission (caring for people, serving them, and sharing the gospel of Jesus with them). 

There are many other stories like this of communities gathering together for the purpose of loving God, loving each other, and going out and intentionally loving those in the world.  Maybe you are a part of community of people who are pursing God’s mission on the earth. 

I hope you are encouraged by this story.  This mission community feels like they are simply in the beginning stages of some awesome things God wants to do through them and through other ordinary people just like them.  I know this story has been an inspiration to me.

So God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all conversing up in heaven.  God the Father then says, “Listen, I am going to adopt, as my very own children, countless people on the earth (men, women, boys, girls, rich, poor, every ethnicity, etc.).  I am going to become their heavenly dad, and I am going to love them forever.”

God the Son responds by saying, “I love the idea.  I was thinking the same thing myself.”

God the Spirit also follows by saying, “I think this is a great idea also, and I too, was thinking the same thing.”

With a half-smile on his face, God the Father says, “Hey, it’s almost like we are all of the same mind.”  The Father then looks at the Son and says, “In order to make this possible, I need to ask you to come to earth, become a human, and take on my punishment of sin on their behalf.”

Jesus looked at the Father, paused for a moment, and said, “I would love to die for those adopted children.  It would be my honor to take on their punishment for the forgiveness of their sins.”

The Father said, “I knew you would say that. When you go down to earth, I want you to show them what it means to live the life I intended them to live on the earth.  Give them the perfect example of living for me.”

“I will do whatever you ask and show me to do,”  Jesus said. 

Then the Father looked at the Spirit and said, “I want you to fill these people whom I have chosen.  I want you to convict them of sin, bring them to repentance, fill them, encourage them, remind them of truth, lead them, prompt them, equip them, and teach them everything I have in mind for them to do.  I want you to live in them.”

The Spirit said, “I will follow your lead and the Son’s lead, and I will show them the way and give them the power to follow that way. ”  The Spirit then looks at the Son and says, “I will even fill you in your humanity and give you power, showing the people what is possible for them as well by my power.”

The Father, Son, and Spirit were of one mind and were the perfect team together.  They had different roles and they went out and filled their roles powerfully.  What we see on the earth today is the reality of their ministry: sinful people coming to Jesus, being adopted as God’s children, and in the power of the Spirit, following Jesus’ teaching and the Father’s will. 

Now obviously, the above conversation is fictitious.  We have no record in Scripture of any such interchange.   However, we do see in Scripture different roles each member of the Trinity fills, we see interaction and even prayer/conversation between the different members of the Trinity, and we see their perfect unity and oneness.

Doctrinally we need to avoid two extremes or errors:  1) that somehow we serve three gods, or 2) that somehow Jesus and the Spirit are not actually the eternal God and are creations or forces of God. 

God is three in one; a mystery that finite minds will never comprehend.

The point I want to make, however, is that their team unity and community is a model for team unity and community within the church.  One of the reasons that God wants his children working together and partnering together to advance his kingdom on the earth (as opposed to doing it simply individually) is because community and team togetherness is derived from the Godhead himself. 

We all need to be working as a team with other brothers and sisters in Christ.  If we are not a part of a community and team, we are missing something that not only God desires for us but something inherent in who he is. 

Spend a little time and ask yourself, am I partnering with other Jesus-followers to advance his kingdom on the earth?  If you are, you are mimicking the eternal nature of God. 

What an exciting and powerful calling the Triune God has given us!