Thin Lines or Dark Lines -- Vocabulary II

How do you talk about "our" church? The essence of being one church in many locations is that you draw a line that between your locations very lightly. There is a line. It's just thin.

The locations can't help but be distinct. Yet, they're part of one church. So, if you want to draw a dark line draw it on the outside to include all the locations. Our tendency is to press hard on the pencil that identifies "mine" or "ours" and make it clear to others that "they" need to take care of "theirs". Instead, we need thin lines, not dark ones. If you can get by without drawing any lines, by all means, do!

Does it matter that when we talk about small group ministry. Yes. . . but not enough to draw a dark line. So, draw a thin one. You could say that about just about any ministry. It makes some difference. Draw a thin, light line if you must. Work within your newly drawn circle, but expect and invite people to cross over it.

Our goal is to work together, not separately. We'll save the dark lines for someone else.