I come from a good size family. I’ve got 5 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters. When we’re together, you can definitely see a family resemblance, but recently I found out just how strong that resemblance is. A few weeks ago, my friend Wanda was out shopping, and she saw me the next day. She said “I think I saw your brother at the store yesterday.” Wanda knows I have a lot of brothers, but she’d never met any of them before. I asked why she thought the man he saw was my brother, and he said “He looked a lot like you, and he even moved and talked like you.” Turns out he was right. One of my brothers (ironically the one who I think looks the least like me) had been working at the store she visited that day. Apparently that resemblance is pretty strong!
As members of the household of faith, we should bear a family resemblance to one another. I often think of Grace Fellowship’s four locations as siblings. So many things are the same—there’s a strong family resemblance. But like a family, each one has its own personality too.
In Ephesians 4:3, the apostle Paul encourages us though scripture to
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
In a recent conversation I had with Pastor Rex, we discussed this verse, and he mentioned that unity isn’t something that we are called to build from scratch. The same Holy Spirit lives in all of us and draws us to unity through Him. We’re simply called to peacefully maintain what we’ve already been given.
So how do we do that as members of a multisite church? I’m sure there are a million different ways, but some of the first that come to mind are:
Attend church-wide events
The church-wide worship night we had at Grace Halfmoon a few months ago was pretty amazing. There was a terrific energy in the sanctuary as worship leaders from all 4 locations led Grace Fellowship in worship and praise to our heavenly Father. Events like these remind us of what God is doing in our church on a broad scale, and encourage us in fellowship.
Visit another Grace Fellowship location some Sunday
If you call Grace your home church, and you haven’t been able to visit all of our 4 locations yet, you should definitely put that on your to-do list for the near future. It’s kind of like meeting a sibling you didn’t know you had. You’ll get a better feel for who we are and what we have in common.
Pray for all of the pastors and locations of Grace Fellowship by name
Can you name all of our Lead Pastors (hint: you can cheat by looking at our staff page)? Have you met them? Because our Lead Pastors often work as a team, the decisions of all of our pastors have an impact on the way you do church. They carry a lot of responsibility for the congregations they lead and for Grace Fellowship as a whole. They all need support, encouragement, and prayer.
As we come into the holidays, our hearts turn toward family. It’s also a great time to remember that we’re blessed to have the church family we have. Take some time in the coming weeks to get to know and appreciate your extended church family. You’ll be working to “keep the unity of the Spirit,” and you may just wind up making some great new friends!
