New Contest: Toward a Bigger Church

Posted by Alan Knox on Mar 29, 2010 in books, unity | 1 comment

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed John H. Armstrong’s book Your Church is Too Small. Later that week, I wrote a post called “Taking steps toward relational unity.” For the last few years, I’ve been learning that the church is bigger than the “local church.” And, that “bigger church” should be noticeable and recognizable to the world. Our unity and our love for each other is our best apologetic.

So, how do we see the church as “bigger.” By a “bigger church,” I’m not talking about building a larger building or increasing the number of people that are meeting together. Instead, I’m talking about real, relational unity with brothers and sisters from different local churches and different denominations, showing the world that we truly are one in Christ.

How do we do that? How do we reach across the man-made boundaries that are currently keeping the church “small”? The purpose of this contest is to answer that question.

If you would like to take part in this contest, send me an email at aknox@sebts.edu explaining how you would reach across man-made boundaries in order demonstrate and maintain relational unity with other brothers and sisters in Christ. You can write about actual experiences that you’ve had, or you can write about suggestions to help the church move toward relational unity.

I will accept email contest entries through Monday, April 18, 2010. That gives you three weeks to write and send in your entry. The person who writes the winning entry will receive a free copy of Armstrong’s book Your Church is Too Small.

I will also publish contest entries on my blog. If you want your entry to be anonymous, please let me know. If you want me to link back to your blog or website, let me know that also.

Unity is too important to remain a concept. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we must maintain (and not hinder) the unity that we have in Jesus Christ. I hope this contest will be a way that we can encourage one another in that unity.