Deliberate Church: Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Loving Each Other

Introduction
“Selfless, humble, Christlike love is to be the signature of those who claim to be members of the local church.”
*Showing Christian love for one another is a critical evangelistic tool for the spread of the Gospel and the growth of the church.

A Live, Active Culture
The church is to be full of mutually encouraging relationships that help people grow spiritually.

5 aspects:
1. Covenantal – “In signing a church covenant, we are committing to grasp hold of one another in Christian love and accountability and to submit ourselves to both the encouragement and the correction of our fellow believers.”
2. Careful – We must make sure that everything we do is deliberately planned to serve the functional centrality of the Gospel.
3. Corporate – The nature of the Christian life is corporate not individualistic.
4. Cross-cultural – Multi-cultural churches display the power of the Gospel.
5. Cross-generational – “The church can stand out as a unique beacon in the community for being a web of warm cross-generational relationships that are grounded in the Gospel.”

Building a Corporate Witness
* “Our Christlike love for one another is intended by God to be the church’s most powerful tool for evangelism!”
*The church itself is God’s evangelism program.

Conclusion
These principles will make all the difference in how we build the local church.