Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed
As we continue our series of Friday posts exploring our Vision here at CBC, we're again thinking about that theme of journeying, but this week we're looking at what it means to walk alongside each other. If you've missed any of the previous posts use the links at the top of this page, or the 'Vision' label at the bottom to catch up.
Whether you're a sports fan, or more specifically a Liverpool fan, you will probably have heard the massed ranks at the Kop End of Anfield singing the Liverpool anthem, 'You'll never walk alone'. The Liverpool supporters in the early sixties adopted this 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' song as their own. I'm sure those of you at CBC who are Liverpool fans will know all the words and will be able to sing along:
Walk on, walk on,
With hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone,
You’ll never walk alone.
Last week we were thinking about how God has promised to walk with us on our journey of faith - even when we're walking through the darkest valley, God is with us.
Obviously there are some parts of the world where Christians have to be very careful about making their faith public. Where Christians aren't free to meet with others to sing and pray and read. But Comberton is not one of those places. Here, within CBC, God has surrounded us with other disciples, so that we can encourage and support each other.
When we thought about what it means to be authentic we talked about church being messy - because life is so often messy, and how church needs to be a place where we feel free to take off our masks and be real. When we thought about community we talked about church being a place where we 'do life' together, where we are closely connected with a few people - and about how do we make sure that everybody is closely connected to somebody.
When I look at our new vision I think that these are the bits that are hardest to get right. Certainly there are pockets within the church where this feeling of walking alongside others is working really well. But then there are other parts where individuals feel very much alone. And where we are will very much colour how we think about the church. Some of us have a very positive experience of church, others have a much more painful experience.
If you're a regular part of CBC you will know that I have three daughters but only two hands, and there are times when we're out walking and all three girls want to hold my hand - which just isn't possible - at least it's not if we're going to continue walking at a decent pace and not trip over in the mud.
'Walking alongside each other' requires us all to be involved, and I guess there are three questions we should all be asking.
1 - Who am I walking alongside (who am I supporting and encouraging at the moment)
2 - Who is walking alongside me (who is supporting and encouraging me at the moment)
3 - Who's walking by themselves at the moment - and what are we going to do about it?
