Vintage Faith Community

This week in Peter’s letter he addresses the relationship between the leadership and the rest of the community. Though leaders often have different roles in the church community, the biblical model is that everyone is a sheep of Jesus, and everyone is responsible for Jesus’ disciple-making purposes in the world. The distinction between leaders and the community at large is simply that leaders take the initiative to lead by example as they care for, encourage, and challenge the community to faithful Christian living. As we come to the end of our study in Peter’s letter, our own missional communities will be covenanting around the ways that we will live out our Identity as a Family of Missionary Servants. In order to do this, we need to embrace our fourth Gospel Identity, that of Learner. To be a Learner is to recognize that each of us is a disciple of Jesus called to make disciples of Jesus. We are all - leaders and followers - responsible for the maturity and mission of the church as a whole. Peter addresses both leadership and the community at large with this very emphasis. Come listen as Steve encourages some of us to step up in leadership and the rest of us to submit to leadership.