A Church for All — Macy Wilson

This morning, 20 people, give or take, walked up to the front of a little church in Harrisburg, crowded together on a stage, and together became members. People from different walks of life and different upbringings stood together in the first of many times of togetherness, under the shepherding of the same pastors, committing to one congregation. It makes sense that we would all become members together.

One by one, a microphone was passed around so that we could introduce ourselves to the congregation and say how we’ve been blessed by the church. I said:

1. The emphasis on the gospel in all aspects of ministry, and

2. The extension of community to people from all walks of life (our name is “Community” after all). It’s a gospel church for all.

Not just this local church, but Christ’s entire Church is a Church for all. Jesus welcomed the little children (Matt. 19:14), men and women, those from all races and cultures (Gal. 3:28, 1 Cor. 1:12-13), the outcasts (Ps. 147:2), widows (1 Tim. 5:3), both the elderly and the young (1 Tim. 5:1-2). What a beautiful bride.

At the end of Romans, Paul greets people of the church he writes to by name. He gives thanks for the members and encouragers, those who serve in all different ways as different members of the body of Christ. All the churches of Christ greet them (Rom. 16:16).

If the local church strives to be a biblical church, let no repentant believer be left out of community. The children growing in the Word and showing a childlike faith in Jesus are a part of the church worthy of gospel teaching and care. The single college student who mustered up the courage to visit by herself should find her home here. The older couple who moved from out of town should be welcomed, looking forward to learning from them. The immigrants learning a new culture should be brought in and loved with every effort to teach them the gospel. The wife cast off should find her encouragement in the care of pastors and loving members. This is the church: men and women of the faith, immigrants and natives and lost children, the weak and lowly and those with scars, the older and the younger with the wisdom of generations, the little children, the single and the married and the widowed, all these and all those in between, united in Christ their salvation. One Savior, one Church, and all the local churches who look to one source as their guide. All these churches of Christ welcome these people. This is the church.