Sally at “Eternal Echoes” proposed a synchroblog to uncover positive stories of church life. What a great idea. There is so much criticism and grumbling associated with the church that it is refreshing to read so much positiveness emerging from among God’s people.

I am finishing off “Pentecostal Hermeneutics” as part of a Masters of Theology through Southern Cross College in Sydney. A common proposal that has emerged through the readings is that there is a 3-fold approach necessary to ensure good Biblical interpretation; Bible, Holy Spirit and community.

Without going into the details in this post I was reminded of the place of community in the process of Biblical interpretation. Each local church is the people of God who are filled with the Holy Spirit and together the church is able to work through a process of learning and growing together. In short, the church is empowered to work together to grow spiritually.

As I considered this I realized that the church is an empowered community. Last week I was preaching and I explained that “Warners Bay Baptist Church” (my fantastic church home) is a title to identify its location (Warners Bay), type of church (Baptist) and the fact that it is a church. In short, the name is simply a name. What is most important is that Warners Bay Baptist Church is the community of people who gather together each week. I encouraged the congregation to look out for and lift each other up.

The church has a responsibility to model love to the world (John 13:35). Last week we had 2 single friends staying over for the weekend and they both came with us to church. After I preached the pastor got up to lead Communion. Prior to communion he went though the prayer points for the week at which point he mentioned that his 67 year old father had passed away that week.

At the close of communion the church elder stood up before the final song to tell us that we had a responsibility to love and hold up each other and he asked the pastor and his family to come to the front of the church. Then he asked all who wanted to surround them physically and lay hands on them and pray for them. To see 60+ people gathered together reaching out, laying hands, holding each other was so moving. Two of the older men had lost a parent in the past 6 months and to hear these men praying through broken sobs was a powerful statement of love.

It is not just the pastor who is loved we work to cultivate love throughout the church body and to extend this to the world around us. When we got back home my friend’s commented that although they enjoyed much of the service the one thing that stood out for them was this huge outpouring of genuine love. We have at our disposal a community that can change this jaded, cynical world. Let us love with passion and see the world changed moment by moment.