Wednesday

The Bezners and a Motley Crew

The Commons began as an experiment.

Our desire was simple: we wanted to see if we could do church with an emphasis on community as described in the New Testament. We had no idea if our experiment would work; in fact, we were hedging our bets that it might not. When we met for worship the first time as a church, we jokingly made a pact: We would give the church two years, and then, if it didn't take, we would call it quits.

Who could ever think of quitting now? The experiment is two years old, and the community has reflected the ancient church in ways that are beyond measure.

Each Sunday morning, a team of volunteers unloads a trailer, brews coffee, delivers donuts, inflates a bounce house and transforms our local school into a house of worship. Then different volunteers lead worship, run our technical team, disciple our children, and love on one another. Then we all pack up a trailer in preparation for next week. There are no bystanders in biblical community.

From time to time we have had needs emerge in our church. When Susan had surgery, we brought food. When Bethany Law was ill, we comforted and prayed. When men in our church underwent job changes, we rallied. When families moved, we carried furniture. When I broke my face, my friends drank milkshakes with me. There is rich love in biblical community.

We have had spiritual renewal in our church. We have seen grade schoolers, teenagers, and adults give their lives to Christ. We have watched people read the New Testament for the first time. We have seen spiritual growth as people have confessed sin, responded in obedience, and turned their lives toward the Kingdom. We have seen families take deep steps of faith, and we have seen small responses that have shaped our church. There are people responding to God in biblical community.

And, through it all, we have worked to love our neighbors. We have purchased Christmas gifts and school supplies for those who are in need; we have donated money to Cornerstone Assistance Network; we have held neighborhood Bible clubs; we have volunteered at local events; we have fed school teachers. There is a contagiousness in biblical community.

To be sure, The Commons is far from perfect. We are a motley crew of sinners with our own unique set of issues. But we live in light of grace, a grace so rich that it cannot be ignored. And this grace draws us together. It is grace that makes those of us imperfect able to have community at all.

And that, I suppose, is the secret of the experiment:

There is grace is biblical community.

May we continue to extend grace in the next year, and as long as we each have breath.

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