The Birth of a New Church

Today marks the beginning point of our church in Fort Thomas.

I'm at the Mammoth Coffee shop in Newport, alone, pondering the meaning of this new thing about to come into existence.

What does it mean to plant a church in a neighborhood where no church currently exists?

The words of John 1:14 keep recurring to me - "The Word [Jesus] became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes..." (The Message)

Over 2000 years ago Jesus became a human being and moved into a small rural village in the northern region of one of Rome's farthest provinces. He came to us, where we live and He came to bring us life.

When Jesus left He sent His Spirit to inhabit the spirits of His followers and declared that the collection of them was His body. The church IS the body of Christ - the physical representative of Christ on this Earth.

So what does it mean when a church moves into a new neighborhood? It means that Jesus Himself - His body - is moving into the neighborhood. The presence of Christ is now living in a little insignificant neighborhood in the north end of Fort Thomas - where me and my family now live.

To the degree that our little band of Christ followers keep in step with the Holy Spirit is the degree to which we, and those in our neighborhood, will encounter Jesus. What a marvelous, mysterious, high and humbling calling, to be the church.

The body of Christ.