Introduction

Children are almost universally loved. Place a young child in the hands of even the sourest person, and a smile will almost certainly break across their face. Maybe it’s because a new child represents the future. The potential in a child is almost limitless. Who knows if that child might not be the person who will one day find the cure for cancer? Perhaps that little one who is nestled in her mothers arms may one day lead a major corporation, a nation, or more importantly, they may lead thousands of people to Christ.

Eight years ago, two families gathered in a living room here in Mayville and vision for a new church was conceived. After 13 months of preparation, prayer and some practice, on Sunday, October 1, 1995, a church was born. The delivery took place in the living room of our home, because the Audubon Inn, where we were planning to meet, was unavailable due to Audubon Days.

At one of those earliest services, Graydon Bohn, the son of that first couple we joined with, took his first step as he stood holding on to the cushion of one seat and took three shaky, wobbly steps to another. We all cheered at his accomplishment! In some ways, we were just like him. Our first steps were shaky, wobbly, but we cheered nonetheless.

It wasn’t that we were naïve; it was simply that every thing was new and exciting. Those first steps evoked giddy shouts of praise and wonder!

Our first communion service (we had to borrow cups from CLF because I forgot to buy them!)
Our first baptism service
The first baby dedication

We watched God take us from the Audubon Conference room, to Richie’s Little Rascals Day Care, to the Middle School cafeteria, to the High School Auditorium, and then to this building of our own. We grew from 4 (7 if you counted our three children!) to 12, to 20 then to over 100.

Incredibly, it has now been 8 years. Even as I say it, I can’t quite believe it. The world is a very different place for an 8-year old than for a little baby isn’t it? An 8-year-old is no longer a baby – they are beginning to grow toward maturity. They experience growing pains, both physically and emotionally. Patterns for life begin to take shape.

At eight, you begin to see how a child is going to face the world for the rest of their life. How do they respond to life’s challenges? How do they handle decision-making? For the first time, they may begin to show passion – expressing their opinions on issues or topics. And they begin to develop habits that will affect the way they will live the rest of their lives. Habits like exercise, diet, and leisure activities. Do they like to read, watch TV or play sports?

After eight years, a church is no longer a newborn. And in many ways, Gateway Community Church is well on the way to becoming the church we will be for years into the future. Like that 8-year-old you may know, we are growing toward maturity, both individually in our relationship with Christ, and corporately as a church. Along the way, we experience some growing pains. This week I had a very exciting call from Jerry Boyer as he shared with me how God was convicting his heart this week. It hurts, but it’s growth!

We are establishing patterns that are crucial for our church’s future. Those patterns will impact our effectiveness as a church for better or worse. We must be aware of them and do all we can to shape those patterns to reflect our commitment to Christ and the mission He has given us. They involve our decision making and leadership development, our passions, our response to the inevitable challenges we face and will face, and the habits we establish.

Like that 8-year-old, we are at a critical juncture. We need solid foundations, strong leadership, and clear direction. It is time for us to stop thinking of ourselves as a “baby church,” a “church plant,” or an “experiment.” We are here to stay, we have a job to do, we have the promise of Jesus Christ Himself that “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not be able to withstand it.”

Turn with me, please, to the book of Ephesians. (If you don’t have a Bible, pick up one under the seat in front of you and turn to page 786.) Ephesians is, like much of the New Testament, a letter from Paul to a young church. It is personally one of my favorite books in the entire Bible. It was one that my dad had me study early as a young Christian. Carol and I were leading a young couple in a Bible study through Ephesians on the night that Nicole was born. But I think that I am drawn to Ephesians today because if I had to pick a letter that could have been written to Gateway Community Church, this is it.

Paul had visited Ephesus briefly on his second missionary trip through Asia, and left a ministry couple there to lead the church named Priscilla and Aquilla. A few years later, he came back, and stayed for three years, helping to lay the foundation for the young church. By the time he wrote this letter we have before us, a few more years had passed, and Paul was imprisoned in Rome.

The church was, possibly, about the same age we are today. In some ways, it was facing some of the same challenges and opportunities, and Paul gives them three very important lessons that I think we need to pay attention to as we move ahead.

Our Confidence

First, take a look at chapter 1, where we see the source of our Confidence.

Verse three reads,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…

Paul then goes on to list those blessings: election from the beginning of time; adoption as sons of God; redemption and forgiveness; insight into the things of God; the sealing of the Holy Spirit; a promised final inheritance in heaven.[i]

And in verses 22&23 we find these words,

And [God] put everything under [Jesus’] feet, and He gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Our confidence is found it the fact that it is Jesus Christ Himself who we follow. He is the head of the church, and it is He who has granted us all that we need to complete the calling that we have been given. This fall, Joann Gouin blessed me by giving me a gift during pastor appreciation month that was a sculpture of a sail boat and printed on the full, wind filled sail are the words, “The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God can not keep you.” And that is exactly what Paul is telling this young church.

We may move confidently into the future, because everything in this world is under the control of Jesus. Paul does not claim that Jesus is only the head of the church, which He is, but he further points out that Jesus is over everything. The verses just preceding this say,

[God] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come.

This is the One we follow! This is the One who leads us! The world looks to presidents, intellectuals or executives to lead them into the future, mere men; giving it their best shot – we are led by Christ, the creator and sustainer of all things!

Our Challenge

That confidence is critical as we turn our attention to the challenge that lies before us. What is it that God has placed before us as our particular job – the unique role we can play in the body of Christ here in Mayville? If you turn over to chapter 3, and verse 10, you will find it. Paul writes that the intent of God is that, “the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church.”

In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrased this verse, “Through Christians like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!”[ii]

The challenge of the church is to make known the message of God. This is reflected in our Mission statement, which you will find on the back of your programs every Sunday. Have you ever read it? How long has it been since you really thought about why we are here? We are here “to present practical application of God’s truth, to help seeking individuals in the Mayville area develop a personal, devoted relationship with Christ.”

Our mission is accomplished through personal relationships, small groups, community involvement and meaningful, relevant worship services. Each of those steps is vital. The most effective way to accomplish the work God has given us is through personal contacts. Most people do not come to Christ through a TV preacher, a Billy Graham-type crusade, or even at church. Most people come to Christ because a friend took the time to share their faith with them personally. They met someone who had experienced the life-changing presence of Christ in their life, and that person brought them to Jesus, too. It all starts there, one to one.

Community Service is an area that I have personally felt God is especially impressing on us as a church in recent days. I believe that God is calling Gateway Community Church to be a church in Mayville that will be known as a church that serves. It has been a part of our mission statement from the first days, but I can’t escape the urging of the Spirit that we have only begun.

New initiatives are springing up all around us, born of the Spirit. Deb Carr and Joann Gouin are working on an assistance program to unemployed workers in the community. They will be helping them with everything from resume formation to interview skills to getting help with insurance forms. The Carpenters Club, which has just recently begun with a group of folks who discovered that they have the gift of Craftsmanship, have as one of their goals not only to accomplish remodeling work at the church, but to do work in the community for poor, elderly or otherwise disadvantaged. It may be that we will be painting or re-roofing a home, helping with calking windows, or any number of tasks for people who would not be able to do it otherwise. And that is only the beginning – trips to do work in other states or countries are in the works as well.

I believe that this will be the year that we will bring, or at least endeavor to bring, Church Health Services to Mayville. With a 12 year track record in Beaver Dam, this program brings doctors, counselors, nurses, chiropractors (at least in Mayville!) to a local church, where they donate their time one day a month, and transform that church into a free clinic for families without insurance. We have the perfect location for that program, and there is a growing need for it in Mayville.

The challenge before the church is to present the truth of God’s love to the world, through everything that we do…that is the only reason we are here. Every other purpose of the church is a footnote compared to this high calling, and every decision of the church should be made through this filter. If it does not help us reach or teach others, then we should be really questioning if it is a legitimate part of our church.

The challenge before us is great, and the only way we can accomplish it is to answer the call which Paul outlines for us in this letter.

Our Calling

Our calling is found in chapter 4. Verse 1 is one of the most compelling verses in all of the Bible – look at it “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Our calling is to walk in daily life in a way that reflects what God has done for us, what we have experienced of Him, and His holy calling on our lives. The rest of this letter outlines what that looks like, and I challenge you to make a concerted study of it this week. But let me focus on a threefold call for our church.

1. Unity

Verse 3 tells us that unity is essential. We will never accomplish the task that God has set before us if we are not united in love. Paul describes our attitudes toward one another as humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing one another’s burdens. The church is no place for pride, bitterness, criticism or uncaring cold hearts. We should never judge another’s use of their gift because it is different than our own – we should rather encourage them, and be encouraged by them to use our gift!

2. Gifts

In verses 11-13, we see that it is essential that we all use our Spiritual gifts. Paul outlines just a few in these verses, apostleship (the beginning of new churches or ministries), prophets (people who speak the truth forcefully, sometimes, but not always, future-oriented), evangelism (proclaiming the truth of the gospel to bring others to Christ), pastors, and teachers. There are many other gifts – the Networking class, which a dozen or so from our church have completed, lists 23 gifts, including helps, intercession, creative communication, hospitality, craftsmanship, and others. The key to this passage is not the list that is given, it is not meant to be comprehensive. The point Paul makes in this verse is in the words immediately following the list of gifts, “for the equipping of the saints for the work or ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Every believer has been given a Spiritual Gift – each one of you who has believed on Jesus Christ has been given at least one gift, and as these verses state, your gift is necessary for the equipping of the church for ministry. Simply put, we need you! We need you to discover, appreciate, nurture and use your gift. Peter says, in I Peter 4:11,

Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified

Whatever your gift is, you are to use it! You are to glorify God with it! But how can you do that if you don’t know what your gift is, how it works, or how to use it in the church? It is my desire that every person in this church be aware of his or her gift and encouraged to use it. This year each of us will be encouraged to do our part, to serve within the body of Christ as He has called us to serve. I will be presenting a series of messages in the next couple of months that will introduce you to this topic, share with you tools to determine your gift, and give you the opportunity to find how you can best fit in. Talk to one of the people who has completed the Networking small group, and each one will tell you that it was a joy to find out that they indeed have a specific role to play in the church – and it is something that they enjoy doing! The goal of this church for 2003 will be to have the right people in the right place for the right reasons. We don’t want you teaching a Sunday school class of 3^rd graders if you gift is praying. We don’t want you to be doing youth activities, if your gift is craftsmanship. But we do want you to be doing what God has uniquely gifted you to do – and you will feel more blessed, more connected and more fulfilled than you ever thought possible as you serve in harmony with God’s gift within you.

3. Maturity

The third calling that is placed before us in chapter 4 is maturity. Look closely at verses 14 and 15 –

14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--

The calling before Gateway Community Church is simply this – to grow up. We are no longer children. We are no longer the little baby church struggling to get on our feet – those days are beyond us. It is time to grow up, to mature. Not necessarily to grow larger – but to “grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.” The last thing I want is for Gateway to be like a lake that is miles wide and only inches deep. Let’s grow up – lets mature as individuals and as a church. Loving our Lord and each other, serving God and the community, presenting the truth of God’s word to the world in a relevant way – the growth in numbers will naturally follow as we grow in Him.

Prayer