Grace Abounding

When you’ve identified a weakness in your local church (you will find flaws in your church and in ours), you can respond in two ways. One one hand, you can search for greener pastures by looking for another Gospel-preaching church. On the other hand, you can consider how God might use you to strengthen your church in the area of weakness you’ve noticed.

Along these lines, Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp offer this advice:

“Are there places where your gifts are needed in the body of Christ? A better question is, Where are your gifts needed? One good way to determine your gifts is to ask yourself where you see weaknesses in the body. It is highly likely that you see these weaknesses because you are looking at the church through the lens of your gifts. Where you see weakness is probably the very place where God wants you to serve your brothers and sisters.”

~ From page 77 of How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp, published in 2008.

Far too many believers just keep perpetually shopping for the ideal church. As they develop relationships with a new church family, they spot its warts and flaws and are far too quick to move on in search of greener pastures. I’m grateful for members of Grace Church of Alexandria who have identified weaknesses in our church and have presented themselves as the solution! They have rolled up their sleeves, gotten their hands dirty, and helped us resemble Christ more clearly as a church. That’s the spirit of Ephesians 4:13 where together as a church family we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”