Church: a community for others, not (just) for me

By Andy O'Connell

Photo https://unsplash.com/@jannesglas

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the leaders in our sister church Lifehouse (Bicester and Banbury) about the opportunities presented in Bicester as the town undergoes planned growth from 30,000 to 80,000 people, with 18,500 new jobs, by 2031.

We were talking about the sort of church we needed to be to respond to what God was doing in the town. In our conversation one phrase stood out starkly: "A church for those not yet there." 

Or in the words of William Temple, English theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury during World War II: "The Church exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it". 

His love and our love

Of course, our concern for those outside the church simply reflects God's love. “God is love” (1John 4:16), and we get to be like him! God's love for the people of world caused him to "send his son into the world, not to condemn but to save and bring eternal life" (John 3:16-17). Our love and actions for others are rooted in his love for us. 

As it is put in our long-term statement of aspirations for our church, The Dream:

We delight in God’s love for us, and love Him in return. We enjoy receiving of Father God’s love for us, and falling ever deeper in love with Him. We will be still before Him, and testify regularly to the love and goodness of God as he blesses, heals, saves and restores. We also expect to be heartfelt and passionate in our worship, as the Spirit leads us to love as He loves. 

We have genuine and servant-hearted love for one another. We follow Christ’s example in loving one another, and the loving quality of our relationships will create a culture in which every person will be confident that they are known and loved. We will be a community in which our God-given gifts are set free for the service of others, and spiritual life is nurtured. To this end, we will offer personalised pastoral ministry to every church member, as we seek to enter into deeper relationship with Jesus. 

We love people outside our church walls. In loving as God does, He will bring new friends who do not yet know Jesus into our family. By God’s grace we will grow in number, diversity and unity together, demonstrating as we do that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for all peoples. As disciples and learners, we want our ethnic and social diversity to match that of the city of which we are part, with people from all backgrounds, generations, and cultures finding a place of belonging in the church and in its leadership. 

We will celebrate the synergy between three loves – for God, for one another and for those outside the church family. So; worship will fuel mission, prayer will strengthen community, our groups will prioritize reaching and including others, new birth will inspire further worship and prayer, and our love for God will move us to build community with those who are different from ourselves.

All things to all men

This love leads us, in the famous soundbite from the Apostle Paul, "to be all things to all men" (1Corinthians 9:19-23). 

As I was putting together this blog series and trialling it with some young adults, I asked for help getting the tone right for the world today. I was asked, what does that mean?

The fancy word is contextualisation: “the attempt to present the Gospel in a culturally relevant way” in every culture and generation. God himself was so concerned that he would effectively communicate to humankind, that he sent his son as a human, "in the very nature of a servant, in human likeness." We too, rightly concerned that we find the right words for our cultural moment, need to work hard to communicate the timeless truths of the gospel in words and tone that communicate today. 
 
So we love others, because God first loved us. We create church for others, for the benefit of those not yet here. And we seek to communicate for others, in language that they will understand. 
 

Part of a blog series exploring our convictions on church