Acts 9:31

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

From Background Notes [BN] for March 16^th & 17^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The local church is, as Karl Barth taught us, “a sign” of God’s purpose in and for the world. It is not, he reminds us, “a religious society constituted by human piety and organization.

 
It happens in response to what the living Christ is doing. Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit initiates the action that creates the church as an event. … The church is when it takes place.” That purpose is living, dynamic, and responsive to the world. As “sign,” the church is saying, “God is here, and from here, God lives for the sake of the world.” Of course, the local church can mute that clarity of that sign, so that it becomes no sign at all. Preoccupied with organizational structure and “maintenance,” the local church ceases to be a sign of anything, except what points back to itself. “Look at us” isn’t a missional statement. “See Christ through us,” is.  [BN, 9]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am