Life Together

At my church's recent annual leadership conference, we were reflecting on issues relating to growth and commitment. As followers of Christ we are called to be faithful witnesses, "fishers of men", disciple-makers, and co-workers in extending God's kingdom. But a church, like any corporate body, is often a crucible of human relationships and all its variegated, dramatic conflict. It is not unheard of to experience problems-- ranging from a lack of vision, to clashes of ego or petty squabbling that might seem to frustrate our efforts and good intentions.

So how can we be obedient to our calling? One of my favourite Christian thinkers Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writes in Life Together:

“How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things? If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.”

AGAPELLA is in some ways a "mini-church", and I thank God that by His grace we have been blessed with a wonderful sense of fellowship and unity in our nearly 4 years together. But we are not to take it for granted, or congratulate ourselves for having "picked a good bunch of people". Rather we should remember that it is He who has called us to life together in this ministry, and who continues to give us everything we need to do His good work. - Aargafella