Bishop Wills' Life Journal Entry for May 13, 2008 -- "Loved By God And Loved By The Larger Community"

S: I Thessalonians 2:13 (The Message)
And now we look back on all this and thank God, an artesian well of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
O: Maturity in the Christian life involves the steady conviction that God loves me, that my future is with God. At the same time there must be the steady conviction that other believers love me, hope for me, delight in me. Otherwise, I can never live freely and openly in a Christian community.

A: Sometimes, I think our small churches often feel inferior, rejected, and abandoned. It is easy to look to the large numbers in large churches and their many ministries and forget the importance of our small membership churches.

Our small membership churches need to know they are loved and we have hope for them in these days. Many of these faithful small membership churches are following Christ the very best they can. They care about children and young people. They want to help when there is trouble any place in the world. Their offerings seem small, but in God’s eyes they are among the largest.

Paul’s word to the Thessalonians is not only are they accepted and loved by God because of their obedience, they are also accepted and loved by the larger Christian community, starting with Paul himself.

I believe this teaching is for all of us to love and appreciate our smaller churches who are seeking to be faithful in these difficult days in our society. I know this teaching to me this morning is important and I pray to always honor people who love God and share the gospel no matter how big or small they are.

P: Father, thank you for this teaching this morning. It is easy to see only the big things our large churches are doing in ministry and miss the important Kingdom work of our smaller churches. I am deeply grateful for each of our churches and deeply grateful for those who are the pastors and lay leaders of all our churches. Love, Dick

Y: I will be affirming of each of our churches and their people and pastors who seek to be faithful to the gospel in these difficult days.