Community – A Story of joining together in the love of Christ.
Relationship superseded creation; it always existed at the core of the Trinity. Our creator introduced us into the story of relationship. This story reveals the great love God has for His creation and calls us to respond to that love. Mark 12:30-31 records Jesus’ words, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Too often, the human condition is defined by loneliness. People desire to be loved, to be heard, to be connected. By reaching out, by loving vulnerably and humbly, we have the opportunity to serve each other through community. Love equals belonging.
‘Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’ -Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit.
We must seek to create and live in environments were those around us can become real – this is the authentic culture we desire to create as we share our stories with one another.
We are a community of believers in Christ; a church. Yet in Springfield, more commonly we hear people refer to “going to church,” rather than “being the church.” The meaning of church needs to be rediscovered. The word in the Greek is Ekklesia simply means those called together or the gathered ones. Church is not a building or a Sunday morning service but a community. A community measured and shaped by authenticity ‐ a place where people are free to take their masks off and be themselves, a place where the lines of communication are always open, a place where the free exchange of ideas is encouraged and ultimately measured by God’s Word. Community like this takes determined humility and confession, listening more than talking, and mirroring the ring of selfless love that exists between the Father, his Son, and the Holy Spirit. If ever really found, authentic community would be worth guarding, it would be worth fighting for, and Jesus certainly felt that it was worth dying for.
Core Value: Authenticity - We value authenticity over image management; biblical community is built on honesty and transparency.
Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom Christ has set us free…” At The Story church, you are free to be your unique display of Christ-likeness. We want to love the real you. Not the person you want us to believe you are; the real you! It is not God’s desire for you to stay the same, but you haven’t been called to conform to our image, but into the image of God.