“Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.” Philippians 2:2 NLT As I drive around the county and state I marvel at the amount of construction that seems to always be going on. I don’t marvel because it is ongoing, I do so because I have always been amazed at the coordination it takes to accomplish road work. There are sometimes hundreds of people working on the same project widening a road or adding an entirely new road. The work stretches over many miles with many different segments of the project happening at once. The fact that it all comes together when the project is finished amazes me. All of the pieces came together and the finished product works. That is quite an accomplishment. Have you ever thought of the church in this way? There are many different parts involved in being an effective church. The church needs to be able to equip and empower its members to do ministry. The church needs to invite and engage guests to be a part of the overall mission. The church needs to raise up children and students in the faith. The church needs to lead everyone to experience God’s grace through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. The work of the church has many segments all happening at once. When it all comes together and the church is fulfilling God’s mission there is nothing like it in all the world. This is one of the reasons we are putting a renewed emphasis on Life Groups. When people are serving together through their Life Groups some amazing stuff happens. Throughout the life of St. Andrew’s this has been the case. There have been groups of people who served on mission trips for building houses, disaster relief, and assisting our mission partners in the local communities we serve. Within the church we have had Life Groups serve at events like Trunk or Treat, Pumpkin Patch, VBS, Dover Elementary, and so much more. A Life Group serving together is an awesome way for the group to connect in Christian community and build the kingdom of God here on earth. Paul wrote in the second chapter of Philippians that to be like Christ is to agree with each other wholeheartedly, love one another, and work together with one mind and purpose. It is our prayer that our church and, especially, our Life Groups will do just this. The more we join together in a spirit of unity to serve each other and the community, the more we resemble Christ. I pray that you will be considering joining a Life Group, if you are not already a part of one. I pray that we will all find ways of working together through our Life Groups to serve. Serving together creates Christian community. This Sunday we will continue the message series Life Groups. I will be discussing more about why we all need a Life Group and how important it is to serve together. I look forward to sharing this with you Sunday. It’s an exciting time to be a part of St. Andrew’s. The best is yet to come. I can’t wait to see you in church!