“We Are Your Church”
Roughly 8 months ago, our church gathered together at a combined service for Rally Day to celebrate the unofficial start of the ministry year. At that service, the choir, praise band, and children’s choir joined together in singing a song by Rend Collective called “Build Your Kingdom Here.” It was a beautiful sight, a diverse group of people joining together in one voice to praise our Heavenly Father.
It was a small glimpse, in my mind, of Revelation 7:9-10:
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Fast-forward 8 months to this Sunday, May 26th, 2024, and First Baptist is hosting its first service at its new time of 10 AM. Wednesday evening, I again had a glimpse of what I saw on Rally Day 2023. We held a combined praise band and choir practice at the same time youth group was going on, and all around me, I saw people who you wouldn’t normally see hanging out together, spending time together, growing in relationship with each other, and caring for each other.
To quote a friend of mine, “Whether we realize it or not, two services means two congregations.” We come together as one body this Sunday and every Sunday that follows because we are one, and serve one God.
Ephesians 4:4-6:
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
We will once again sing as a church body the words of Rend Collective: “We are Your Church, We need Your power in us.”
We will once again sing a prayer for “God’s kingdom to come” (Matthew 6:10) when we sing the refrain.
“Build Your kingdom here
“Build Your Kingdom Here” – Rend Collective
Let the darkness fear
Show Your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set you’re church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build you’re kingdom here we pray”
If you remove the musical accompaniment, this chorus is a prayer that resonates with all of us for God’s kingdom to be made a reality here on earth.
That desire can only begin to become a reality when we are one in unity with each other and one in unity with God.
John 17:21:
“that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me”
Our prayer as Church Leadership is that this change would create new opportunities First Baptist to be used for God’s glory in the Lehigh Valley and to assist us in carrying out our mission statement “Loving you where you are, joining you in the journey and celebrating where God is taking us” by making us a stronger community.
Pastor Adam