For those who were with us in our worship gathering this past Sunday, you know that the message was about the discipline of community. That is, a necessary part of our development into godliness is the one-another community of faith we call "church."

I came across a story that illustrates the value of working together. It was about a horse-pulling contest held at a county fair--that is, the horses competed against each other pulling different amounts of weight. The second place winner pulled a sled of 1,000 pounds. The first place winner pulled a sled of 1,500 pounds. But when the two horses were teamed up, together they pulled 4,000 pounds of weight. That's the difference teamwork makes.

It's not hard to see--just by looking at the word--that unity is a key part of community. It is important for sure, but it is not always what we think it is. Unity is not uniformity, where everyone is the same. In fact, one of the miracles of Biblical unity is that the Lord is able to take people of different ages, backgrounds and cultures and meld them together into one body. Of course, He created all of us to begin with, so we shouldn't be surprised that He can do that. 

Neither is unity just about everyone getting along with each other. Many people tend to equate unity with people all liking each other, and never having disagreements at all. That is not reality, nor was it ever expected to be. Conflict happens, and personality clashes are real-life. The secret in those relationships is whether we are willing to practice grace-based patience, forbearance and forgiveness with those with whom we sometimes butt heads.

In reality is, the key to biblical unity is everyone doing their part, working together to accomplishing something together that they could not do on their own. Or, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In that light, the focus is not on unity itself--that is not the end; the focus is on the mission, and it is that mission that brings people together to use their unique gifts and talents for a greater purpose. The analogies for how this works are endless: a team, where everyone plays his position; a band, where everyone plays his instrument; an engine, that is running on all cylinders. Or, a body, where "each part does its work." (Eph. 4:16)

That teamwork was what we were talking about on Sunday--that we need each other, to be all that God wants us to be and to grow in godliness. But that also extends to our accomplishing our mission outside of the circle of our church family. As one of our core values states, "what we do, we do together." Which brings us to this week's Vacation Bible School.

So many people have already been working tirelessly to plan and prepare for our VBS, and in the coming days dozens more adult and youth volunteers will make themselves available to serve the Lord as we minister to families of our community. No doubt, children will be pointed to Jesus this week, and we pray many will commit their lives to Him. It will be a beautiful example of the Lord being honored through our unity together in serving Him, "as each part does its work."

I'm sure glad we're on the same team, and what a privilege it is to be your pastor. I hope you'll join me in praying for a wonderful week, and that we will see much fruit borne through our VBS. In the mean time, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. 

--Pastor Ken