Who are we as a church?
This stage of church planting has included naming our church, creating a logo, and getting our website in order. The identity of the church is taking shape. It feels good to have some tangible ways for people to begin experiencing who we are.
I [Charlie] was talking with a friend who is interested in becoming part of our faith community. He had some good questions about our vision and values, our mission and strategy. I appreciate these conversations because they are an essential part of discerning how God is molding this church one piece at a time.
This friend has two little kids at home. I asked if he remembered seeing the ultrasound images of his kids. At this point in the journey, our church is a lot like those images. We can see that there is life in it and that it’s developing appropriately. We are eagerly preparing our hearts to welcome it into our lives. We see others getting excited along with us and beginning to anticipate the arrival. We even have a name that we are sharing with the world.
Much like David sang about in Psalm 139, this church is intimately and infinitely known by God. In most ways it is still a mystery to us. We are bearing witness to the formation and birth of something new. We are stewarding the life that God has entrusted to us. We are eagerly anticipating the upcoming responsibilities of nurturing this expression of the Body into maturity.
The spring feels like the end of the second trimester. We’ve clearly begun to “show” (and get a little uncomfortable), but there is still a long way to go. As the summer months approach, we will be able to distinguish more features of this new being. It will become more clear who this church is becoming within this initial community. With these first people we will collectively discern the ways God is growing us and calling us to serve.
God sees our unformed substance and knows every day of our future endeavors, even if it’s still a bit blurry to us.
