What is the “face” of a church? Bearded? Bespectacled? Steepled? Bricked? Anglo? African-American? Young? Old? Formal? Casual? Traditional? Modern? American? Latino? You and I know that there is no one face to the church which the Bible refers to as the body of Christ. There are many faces.
This past Sunday the congregation of First Baptist Church welcomed 29 new faces to our church family who joined our membership. It was a great response for a single Sunday. What a gift we have been given with these who have come to call First Baptist church their home. They were of differnet ages, gender and ethnicity. No one face is “the” face of FBC but all of the faces help paint a more complete picture.
Your face is part of the larger family too, wherever you worship. First Baptist has adopted the stewardship theme: “I am First Baptist Church” and throughout 2010 and 2011 we will celebrate the many images and faces that make up FBC. Of course our church’s theme could be any church’s theme. What do you picture or imagine when you here the words, “I am the church”?
To the ancient but cosmopolitan city of Corinth, Paul the Apostle wrote to the church: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many… 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 20)
It is a beautiful thought isn’t it? God’s wonderful, diverse family united by a common devotion to follow Jesus. “I am the Church,” and I am honored to be pictured with my good folks in Augusta as the face of our church.
Peace be with you,
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