One of the great blessings that the Lord has given to each of us is the local church. At times we refer to the local church as a family, a body, or even the bride of Christ, and each of those images captures for us some of the essence of what it means for believers to join together for mutual encouragement, accountability, and growth in Christlikeness.
This past Sunday we completed our 4-week Next Steps class for prospective members at Eastmont. Each week has proven to be a great encouragement to me and to our pastoral staff as we spent time getting to know and celebrating the call of God on the lives of over fifteen men and women who believe the Lord is leading them to unite with the Eastmont faith family. One topic we spent time exploring was the expectations of members of a church family. I think it is prudent for each of us to be reminded periodically of some of those same expectations. So I wanted to simply state, in list form, some of those commitments we make to one another when we unite with a faith family:
- Participation – Members of the body actually attend and cherish their opportunities to gather with fellow members as long as we are physically able.
- Accountability – Members of the body submit to one another, agreeing that our greatest pursuit is Christlikeness and expressing our need for every member to fulfill his/her part.
- Prayer – Members of the body pray for those in their church family with prayers of thanksgiving and intercession.
- Giving – Members of the body understand and answer the call to be faithful stewards of all of God’s gifts, including our finances and our time.
- Service – Members of the body agree that our mission is to serve one another, our community, our region, our nation, and our world
As the body of Christ known as Eastmont Baptist Church, let us then consider how we can live out our commitment to Christ and to His people as we make much of our Savior and Lord!