One, Undivided, Unified...

I've spent a lot of my 7 years at Grace trying to understand the complexities of our church; like all organizations, we are complex. One principle that Pastor Young impressed on me that I've refused to let go is that we are one ministry. We are one church, with a multitude of ministries that you likely will find in many churches (children's programs, youth group, adult groups, Sunday School, music groups, etc., etc.). We are one church that also has a daycare and a Christian School ministry. While these two ministries are substantial in size, they are ministries of the church.

We are one staff. The common attender is really only exposed to a small percentage of our entire staff. We have some 15 employees that are primarily devoted to what I call the traditional church ministries. But we have 20 some employees that work in our daycare ministry and some 50 employees that work in the Christian School ministry. Though we serve in different ministry segments and serve at different times, we are all one staff.

We share one building and all the resources that go with it. God has blessed our minsitry with tremendous resources. We strive to share the resources as a way toward better stewardship of what God has bestowed on us. Take a peek in one of the Early Childhood rooms on a Sunday morning and see how well those kids share toys - yeah, it's not always a picnic. But as we work through the challenges of sharing, we see God using us to reach people for Christ.

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body... Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sease of smell be?... The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-17, 21