During the Christmas season, Tara and I received many cards, words, and gifts of encouragement from you, our church family at Valley Bible Church. We are encouraged and appreciative by being on the receiving end of such love from you all.  

But I’d like to turn it around and say, “Thank you, Valley Bible Church, for being a unique, Christ-centered, loving church.”

Churches take on their own personalities. I’ve been involved in enough churches in my lifetime, and have observed many others to see this surprising truth. Churches are just not the same. They are as different as people are different.

One would think that since people are people, so all churches would be the same. One would think that since we share a common salvation with all other believers, so all churches would be the same. One would think that since we share the same Lord, Bible, Holy Spirit as all other Christians, so all churches would be the same. But they are not.

Think of the different personalities of the churches in the NT. We just finished the book of Philippians, and it is evident the church in Philippi was unique. It had its own unique problems, people, and perspective on ministry and suffering. They were different from say, the Ephesians, or the Corinthians. Take, for instance, the 7 churches in Revelation. Jesus had a special message for each individual church. They had strengths and weaknesses that Jesus addressed. But they were all different, even though they had the same Lord and the same salvation.

Why are churches different? Many reasons, but it is simply that we are a collection of very different personalities who form a whole. If you were to take up a bunch of random, multi-colored, magnet numbers off your refrigerator, and mix them up in three different bags, then add them up—you’d end up with a sum total of numbers and colors that are different from one another. A church is the same. We are the sum total of the different personalities whom God has put together—to form us! Why are churches different? Because the parts are different, and we end up with an individual church that is different as well. 

This is a good thing. Can you imagine if all Christians were exactly the same, or all churches were exactly the same? Boring. But, you see, we reflect the essence and nature of God in this way. God is eternal and infinite and multifaceted. In individual Christians and in particular churches, we will always see something unique about God in us.

This is God’s design:

 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. Romans 12:4-6

We are all church members. We are members of His body, and we are members of one another. But we are all different because of individual gifting of His choosing, for us individually and as a whole.

A double-sided word of caution: We should never be content with our progress. We are to “press on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). We should never think that we have arrived at full maturity as a church, or even that we are better than others. We have much growing to do. The other side of the caution is that we should not try to be something we are not. Yes, we can learn from other churches, ministries, pastors, leaders, etc., but we must be sure that we are becoming what God wants us to be. There are always conferences, books, systems, software that hold out a way to be like somebody else’s church. We need to be who we are. When we compare ourselves with others, we may become disappointed and distracted, and miss out on the unique working of God in our own midst. I’m thankful for who we are. I’m grateful for you, Valley Bible Church. We have our own personality and way of doing things, and that’s okay; that’s how God has made us.

All this to say, I am thankful for the unique personality of Valley Bible Church. We are a bunch of ragamuffins and misfit toys, but we are God’s ragamuffins and misfit toys. He has saved us and sovereignly placed us together in this local expression of the Body of Christ, Valley Bible Church. God has sovereignly gifted each and every one of you and placed us together. For that I am grateful. 

But I commend you for being obedient to His commandments and His calling. You continue to amaze me by your faithfulness and selfless service. Thank you for loving our Lord. Thank you for loving one another. Thank you for serving Him and one another in love.

For this reason I too, 

having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you 

and your love for all the saints, ‘

do not cease giving thanks for you, 

while making mention of you in my prayers.

Ephesians 1:15-16