This was the second national conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches we have been to, and we never cease to enjoy any opportunity to get together with the leaders and other members of Grace Brethren Churches across North America (and a few international missionaries as well!) Not having experienced national-level meetings in any other denomination, I can’t say for certain it is the best, but it certainly blesses us making new friends, renewing friendships of others we have not seen for some time, and discovering in a fresh way where we are going as a family.
I say family because I really feel that is the best analogy for what it’s like. Some relatives you never knew you had, you love them just the same and look forward to learning about how God is working in their lives. Other relatives may live far away and you long for every chance to reconnect with them. Others live nearby and perhaps just the busyness of life keeps you from spending more time together. It was family reunion time in Cincinatti, and it was a blessing!
In retrospect it appears that there was two major themes to this conference. One was reaching out to Ethnic America. We took in four workshops yesterday. It is admirable this focus, because immigration in the USA and Canada is occurring at such a ferocious pace that the Church needs to step into this opportunity to reach out to the World at our doorstep. When most immigration occurred from “Christian” nations, the churches filled as immigrants arrived. But now, most immigration to North America is from nations who have no interest in church, but do wish, like we all do, to feel welcomed, to learn what it means to be citizens. There is nobody who argues that the best opportunity for people to make life-changing decisions is at times when they are dealing with major crises – moving across the face of the earth is a crisis. I can’t wait to see the fruit of these seminars being borne, and certainly it helped us look harder at the opportunities that are there in Medicine Hat.
The other big emphasis was wrestling with some big issues about the direction of the Fellowship and what family really means in this context. That wrestling will go on, and we are excited to be a part of the voices that are calling the family to a common sense of purpose and a recognition of the reality of family. It is easy to think of church as a non-profit business, and membership in the Fellowship as a marketing alliance, to be benefited from until it is inconvenient then discarded for another alliance. I think that God is pretty clear in his Word that Christians are family, and the Church is one family. This applies to the relationship between churches as well. I think we need to guard against wordly business perpectives that merely ask “what’s in it for me?” I am reminded of a great American who said about 50 years ago, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I think that for those many people who are questioning the cost of investment in events like National Conference, regional focus retreats, or even ministerium, need to turn that around, and ask themselves, “What am I contributing?” The fellowship is the greater when each voice chooses to participate in the conversation, chooses to contribute their gifts to the whole. The reward for this act is, as Jeff Bogue so eloquently demonstrated, is to become part of the sledgehammer, breaking the gates of hell!
For myself, I can’t imagine being involved in a fellowship where I wasn’t contributing to something larger. I think back on everything about my walk with Christ and it’s always been about that. When He became Lord of my life, He was ushering me into His Kingdom, and giving me a place in a grand plan that began before time: some have pictured it in Joel’s Army terms. Some have pictured it as guerilla warfare in the Kingdom of This World. It could even be pictured in terms like the smuggling of people out of slavery and into freedom (with a nod to the Underground Railroad Museum here in Cincinatti). But I became a part of that. As I have grown in Christ, there has never been a question that I need to give everything I have to offer to this enterprise. To give to the larger means I am seeing something done that I could never do on my own. I am not satisfied with acting on my own strength, because I know it is meager. I lend my strength to my local church, and the church as a whole sees souls won to Christ – many more than I could ever win on my own. My church lends its strength to other larger enterprises, and we see even more souls won to Christ and Jesus’ name lifted up in our nation. When my fellowship acts as one, we will do things that can’t even be imagined. But stepping back, not giving my all, thinking I can act in my own interests and further the Kingdom more? I just don’t see how that makes sense.
What I am thinking about is carrying this conference, and this renewed recognition of family back to our local area. We need more family in the Fellowship – we also need more family in the Northwest District. We need all hands on deck to give the gifts they have to the larger whole and see God use us in ways beyond understanding. I want to work harder than ever at connecting those I know in, and sharing my excitement and love for this family. It is a wonder and a privelege that God brought us into this Fellowship. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Tags: family, fellowship, fellowship of grace brethren churches, John F. Kennedy, northwest district, participation, spiritual gifts
