Paul declared,”…God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20) To be entrusted with the message of reconciliation in our current world requires us to become involved at points of alienation and separation in our society.
For that to take place requires us to both go out into society and to bring those who are struggling into our community. Jesus’ ministry exemplified that sort of societal healing as he reached out to tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers and Gentiles, all of whom were considered separated from God’s community.
It would be expected that the Body of Christ would be expected to exemplify that same spirit in their life and ministry. It is common to picture most congregations in our culture as bastions of conservatism and to assume that they are not involved in such work of reconciliation. However, if you read their minutes, would you discover signs that such reconciling work does break through. That is what we will be exploring in this next part of exegeging a congregation.
