Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Great Meeting!

This morning I participated in our local Ministerial Alliance meeting. We had eight people attend representing seven churches including, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist (2), Church of Christ, Episcopal, Catholic, and United Methodist, our Full Gospel member was not present. I am always so encouraged when we can come together to plan events and seek ways to continue to support the less fortunate in our community.

It may be because we are in a small community but we do not let tradition, denomination, or whether we are liturgical or non-liturgical keep us from uniting in common ministry. We planned 5th Quarter events for after our home football games, a See You at the Pole event, and continuing support for folks needing food and financial help. To me this is what it means to be part of the body of Christ in this place. Each of our churches are fulfilling a different role but we are all still part of the same body.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

2 comments:

Rev Kim said...

Our local ministerial alliance is much the same, and I think it's because of the small town culture. We don't let tradition, denomination, etc., divide us. Each week I meet with a pastors' lectionary study group made up of three Episcopalians, one ELCA, one Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and one Seventh-Day Adventist. I was nervous when we first started meeting, but it's been delightful. We laugh, share, learn, and find out more about one another's traditions - not in a challenging way or to change anybody's mind, but so we can understand more where the person is coming from.

Jim said...

I'm glad to hear that, there is so much tension within our denomination and our Presbytery that I always enjoy our ministerial alliance meetings. We are all so different but we can still get along and actually do ministry together. I whish we could find that level of cooperation with people who we are supposed to have so much in common.