An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, you must go alone, but if you want to go far, you must journey together.”
When I think of the Christian life, this axiom rings true in many ways. As a father, I am well aware of the strength found in leading a family to the deep things of God. While each individual must make his or her own decision about God, it is within the context of the family that each of us can look to the others for inspiration, learning through great victories or devastating defeats.
Our families should provide a place that is safe—a place where dangerous questions can be asked, doubts can be explored and faith can come to life. Obviously these experiences and realizations do not happen overnight. They are realized in the journey—going the distance to learn the deep sustaining things of God and faith.
In a broader sense, our faith communities—our churches—provide for a similar journey. In the life of each body we have the opportunity to experience significant moments, moments that mark us and allow us to see that, in order to go far, we must journey together. We are witnesses to weddings and funerals, birth and death, building projects and pastoral changes. Our journey includes times of strategic planning, calculating how we can best minister to our children, our young people and the communities that surround our churches. And of course there are times when pain and tragedy strike and we lean into God severely, stretching to reveal the faith that He has placed in our hearts.
As the circle widens we begin to see why we would declare CB Northwest to be a covenant community of churches. Our desire is to go far, to see God and His kingdom revealed throughout the Northwest. This will require that we journey together.
The tension will always be to go fast, to declare a measure of autonomy, not allowing the struggles of others to slow us down. Yet this is contrary to how we operate in the smaller circles of life. In our families and our churches we learn to relish the journey, to live to the fullest the experiences that mark our lives and move us closer to God. It is right for our covenant community to share our experiences and to corporately sing the praises of our God and King.
My prayer at the writing of this article is very simple: I pray that all of you reading would be surrounded by people who share a desire to know God more deeply. That you would covenant to stand close enough to each other to know and feel the hurts, struggles, victories and absolute joys of following Christ. May you choose this day to journey together, perhaps not moving too fast, but instead going very deep into the heart of God.
