Our second PCF core value: Community

One thing that we have heard again and again, from the Vision Questionnaires and in conversation, is that people at PCF value a sense of family within our church. And we should! Jesus told his disciples that people will know that we belong to Him when we love each other (John 13:35). When the Elders think of this sense of love and family that we have, we have expressed this in our Core Values as “Community”.

We show this community in many ways. We enjoy being together – on Sunday mornings, with potlucks and game nights, in each others’ homes. We open God’s Word together and pray for each other in our Life Groups. Our relaxed and informal style expresses a love and acceptance of each other – we don’t need to put on a show for each other, we can be ourselves with each other. The flood of meals that many of us have experienced at different times of need shows loving concern for each others’ well being. And these are not just things that we do – this is who we are as a church. It’s as if it were in our collective DNA.

Paul prayed for the Philippians that their love would abound more and more (Philippians 1:9). This is our prayer for PCF as well. We live in a culture where people have many Facebook friends, but few face-to-face friends. God calls us in his Word to real and meaningful community rather than virtual community. Community is at the core of who we are, and who we are becoming, so let’s love each other with more energy, passion, and intention!

This abounding love should show itself in a number of different ways. Covenant Membership could be a way that we express our commitment to one another. We could find new ways to serve our church family that require greater sacrifice on our part. We could become bolder to speak hope and truth into each others’ lives, transforming our fellowship into a discipleship that grows our love for Christ and for people. We could be
informal AND intentional – have our informality be more than a style we like, but give it a purpose to communicate grace and love to each other, and to those who don’t trust Christ.

This sounds scary. We’ve all been hurt by people, and giving ourselves to people opens us up to be hurt. Jesus said that the greatest love is laying down your life for your friends (John 15:13). I am convinced that if we are willing to give ourselves whole heartedly to one another, God will richly bless us and our church.

Posted by David Fenton on May 14, 10:55 PM