Dear Friends,
It is now about one month since we have been able to physically meet together. Thanks to Zoom, and the telephone, we can be in contact with each other, but it’s not the same as being together in person. If this stay-in-order continues for many months it could cause long-term damage to the fabric of our churches.
Let’s pray that this does not happen.
Given the situation as it is, it raises the question, what is church if it cannot or does not, meet? This is just not an hypothetical question; it goes to the very heart of what it means to be a Christian.
The New Testament does not contemplate the idea of believers not belonging to a church. It would be as alien as a family whose members chose not to live or be together.
This has prompted me to reflect more and more on the subject of church; what it is, what we miss without it, and how, when we come back together again, we can make it better?
Arising from this I am planning to have a short sermon series on the Bible’s teaching on the Church. This week’s sermon will lay the big picture foundation and the following two Sundays will explore the practical implications flowing from it.
Also, these sermons will provide the basis for growth group discussion. To facilitate this, I am going to put online the full text of the sermon each week as a resource and pose some questions for the growth groups to discuss during the week after the sermon is delivered on the Sunday.
I think this little series will also be a helpful introduction to the sermons on the Book of the Revelation, which as you probably know was written to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.
I hope this arrangement will be helpful as we continue this strange experience of not being able to be together in person and give us a refreshed thirst to make our fellowship even better when we do come back together again.
Your friend,
Bruce Ballantine-Jones
Acting Rector