The “Opportunity Exploration Group” is off and running! This is a team of people from our Congregation who have come together to research our community and explore opportunities for us as a Congregation to show love to our neighbours in practical ways. The more we understand about our community, and the more we understand about ourselves, the better we can love and serve. In our first meeting, we decided to rename ourselves “The Future Builders!” A much cooler name than “Opportunity Exploration Group.” At our second meeting yesterday, the team did a short devotion. We reflected on 1 Corinthians 12 and the image of the Body of Christ. One comment was that this image is often applied to an individual Congregation. That is, you would imagine one Congregation of people and think how they are the Body of Christ. Which person is a hand? What person is a heart? Who are the eyes? We discussed that this is not a wrong interpretation of Paul’s image in Corinthians, but to consider that it might be a bit limited. When the Apostle Paul wrote his letters, he didn’t just write them to one Church. He knew that his letters were handed around from one Church to the next. So when Paul writes, “You are the Body of Christ,” he’s not just talking about one Church, he’s talking about all the Churches together. We were challenged to think at two levels: first, to ask ourselves what our particular gift is and what part of the Body of Christ in Canterbury Baptist we serve in. But the second level is to look beyond ourselves. If the Churches in Boroondara together are also the Body of Christ, then what part of that Body would we together as a Congregation be in? If we bring together all the people and all the gifts God has placed in Canterbury Baptist, what do we learn about the kind of role God is calling us to play in our area? These are questions worth thinking about.
[Image by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash]
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