From March 2013 to October 2019, the Grand Blanc location of The River Church met every Sunday morning at the Trillium Movie Theater. Each week, we would pick up a trailer full of equipment at around 6:30 am, get to the theater by 7:00 am, and start the setup process. By 9:30 am, the kids’ theater, the nursery theater, and the adult theater were all set up and ready to go. Every week, different believers would sacrifice their time to make sure the Gathering of the church could even happen that day. There were many weeks where we had a blast serving in that way and many weeks where it was tough to get up and out the door to do it! I tell you that story to try and show you a small picture of what it takes to actually gather as a church. Each weekend, believers all around the world sacrifice their time to serve God’s Church allowing others the opportunity to gather together.

1. In what way do you currently serve the Church?

2. If you do not currently serve, is there any area you wish to get involved in?

Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

3. In the context of Gathering as a church, what would it look like to count others more significant than yourself?

When I think back to that time in ministry and all the wonderful volunteers I have encountered at our Gatherings, I think of this verse in Philippians. I think of people who were willing to weekly count others more significant than themselves and sacrifice to serve those people. It is important that we understand that it takes the whole body of Christ, from the toes to the head, to accomplish His mission on this Earth. Those of us that serve to help accomplish the Gathering of the church each week, do it because we know how important it really is. We would implore those of you who are not serving in any way to come join us! There is always a need, and when we truly start to understand the importance of it, helping in some way to make it happen is the only natural response.

We run into some of our biggest spiritual hurdles when we start to believe that the Sunday morning Gathering is all about us. Some are regularly thinking, “How am I going to get something out of this?” Eventually, our attitudes will probably sour ourselves and others to the whole concept of the church. However, if weekly we approach gathering with the church as an opportunity to serve and count someone as more significant than ourselves, I promise that the Lord will use the Gathering of His people in extraordinary ways to encourage us.

4. How have you encouraged someone through a Gathering of the church?

5. How have you been encouraged by someone recently through a Gathering?

6. How can you better prepare your heart to be an encouragement to someone else at a Gathering?

I would challenge you to pray prior to the church Gathering that you attend each week. Pray on the car ride in that the Lord would make it evident how you could be an encouragement to someone that day. This may seem intimidating, but I promise there are numerous different ways that you can encourage someone else in this context. It may be something as simple as genuinely worshiping when singing during the Gathering. When the church sings together it can be an incredible encouragement to those around us who may be struggling that day. I know personally, as someone on the stage, it is such an encouragement to my soul when I see members of the congregation wholeheartedly engaging in singing. It could involve you noticing a person who is sitting alone and introducing yourself to them. It could just be you honestly asking someone how they are doing and being willing to listen to their response.

Philippians 2:1-2 says, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

7. Why do you think Paul says, “complete my joy”?

8. What would it look like for us, as the body of Christ, to be of the same mind and have the same love?

It is such an encouraging sight to see different people connecting on a Sunday morning over the main thing that they have in common, the Lord. I believe this is what Paul means by “complete my joy.” He is saying, it makes me so happy when I see you all connect by being of the same mind and the same love. Now, this verse is not saying that we all have to be exactly the same. It is a dangerous thing when we start desiring everyone that is a part of the church to look the same, act the same, and be in the same socioeconomic group. The list is endless. The beautiful thing about the church is that we are all so different, yet we can all be united around the things of Christ. When we are of one mind, we can accomplish so much more for the Kingdom of God and we work towards this goal by gathering together to study God’s Word and worship Him together. When we gather together, we are saying to the Lord that all of our hearts together are set on Him and within that, He encourages us to live for Him in our daily lives.

9. How have you seen the church become ineffective when we are not of the same mind and love?

Unfortunately, the Gathering of many churches is rendered ineffective because the body of believers is too busy fighting over having different priorities and different loves. They find themselves constantly looking inward at their own sinful priorities, instead of looking upward toward the Lord’s priorities for His church. In the end, these churches tend to just take up space instead of stirring each other to good works.

10. How can we prevent the Gathering of our church from becoming something that is ineffective for the Kingdom of God?

My eternal desire is that when we gather together as a church, there is a room filled with believers who are ready to sacrifice themselves for others and view others as more significant than themselves. Then we can move towards having our minds and hearts align on the things of God. When this happens, go beyond gathering together as a church into the world that so desperately needs to know the love of Jesus, and we will be ready to show it to them. Faithfully gathering together as a church allows us to become effective in the mission of the Gospel that Christ has faithfully entrusted to us. Gathering together is not a ritual to appease the Lord, it is a powerful, God-ordained, weekly opportunity to sacrifice for others, and be encouraged by the Spirit of the Lord.