Imagine

 In Featured, Pastor Paul's Blog

By Pastor Paul Gauche

Today’s Word: ‘Imagine’ as in… a healthy, thriving, robust community of faith that loves one another courageously, prays with and for one another intentionally, worships together, and celebrates all of the ways that God is active in the world through your community of faith.

Imagine a community of faith that is purposeful about being the light of Christ for others, encourages each other to live with open hearts, practices generosity, seeks ways to “learn Christ” by reading scripture, and gathers to learn in large and small groups.

Imagine a community of faith that actively steps away from old ways of living life that do not build up the Community of Christ and courageously steps toward ways of living in a community that renews, restores, and reconciles us as the body of Christ.

Imagine a community of faith that measures the individual’s good by intentionally considering what is best for the community – that puts the community’s needs above and beyond the needs of the individual.

Imagine a community of faith that acknowledges that while there is a great deal of brokenness in the world, the community of Christ embraces the call to generate momentums of love and respect, which create a different kind of world through love and service in Jesus’ name.

If I were tasked with writing “A Manifesto for A Community of Faith,” that would be it.

We’ve just imagined a remarkable way for communities to live well together. But there’s nothing new here. This vision of the Christian community is described in the book of Ephesians when Paul wrote:  “[Y]ou must no longer walk [in mindless futility, and darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God because of … ignorance … and … hardness of heart. That is not the way you learned Christ! But be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

All of this raises some important questions. First, how close to this vision are we? Second, what specific steps will you take to move toward this vision?

#100days50words

Paul Gauche is the Pastor of Life Transitions at Prince of Peace. His posts are part of his #100days50words project, where he blogs about a different word each week. You can follow his project on Instagram (@pgauche) or on his blog, Thriving Rhythms.

 

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