“We desire to see the people of Hampton Roads treasuring Christ through churches that
reflect the character of God, the diversity of our cities, and display a healthy
witness of the Gospel to our neighbors and the world.”
Hampton Roads Fellowship (HRF) was planted out of this vision. In the next two posts we will be focusing on our vision for community. Specifically, why we as a church are committed to intentionally maintaining our unity in Christ as well as pursuing and cultivating diversity.
This post will focus on why we see this as important and the next will look at practical ways we can seek to maintain this here at HRF.
So why are we a church that sees unity and diversity as important?
The Apostle John describes for us a vision he receives from God of what Heaven will be like. In Revelation 5:8-10 and 7:9-12 we see God's great goal to have a diverse multitude from every tribe, nation, people and language who will forever be worshiping Him and reigning with Christ in the new heavens and new earth. While this is certainly our future as believers, God graciously provides a present glimpse into this future reality through diversity within local churches. A small foretaste of what is to come.
At HRF our mission is to make disciples of Jesus who love God, love people, and help others do the same. This is formed by the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20).
We believe the church is to MAKE disciples of Jesus and the mission
of the christian is to BE disciples of Jesus.
It is Jesus' person and His finished work that gives us our purpose for existence, our mission and our identity. We see Jesus' intent in coming to this earth by taking on human flesh and dying on the cross, was to glorify the Father by ransoming a diverse multitude of people that will be united to Him and to each other. He unites us to Himself and to each other by giving his Spirit to reside in believers. Therefore, we are adopted into the family of God and the unity which has been achieved for us is what we are now called to maintain.
Three reasons why we seek to maintain unity and pursue diversity.
Diversity and unity are rooted in the very nature of God. Being a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit there is a unity of love in the community of the Godhead. This love shared between the persons of the Godhead overflowed to create a world where His love could be experienced and where His image would be reflected in our God given differences.
Our pursuit of unity and diversity testifies to the power of the Gospel. The good news of the gospel is that God sent His Son into the world to rescue sinners and restore the fellowship we lost with God and with one another. The Trinity works in unison in our salvation. The Father adopts us into his family, the Son redeems us and the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ to us and empowers us to be witnesses. This is why at HRF, we value community. We see this in Ephesians 3:10, Paul states that it is through the church that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. God intends that through the church his eternal plan would now be revealed and that the world would be able to see what his character is like by looking at his church. This brings him great glory!
It visibly represents what is a present reality and our future. As we read through scripture we see that God is on a mission to accomplish His end goal: establishing His kingdom that will be full of diverse peoples. His plan is that by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus all people who trust in Him will be brought into the family of God. Salvation is available for everyone regardless of ethnicity or race.
We labor as Christ's body to maintain the unity we have received in the context of diverse relationships. Why? Because by the gospel we see unity in diversity as a privilege and responsibility, given by God to maintain and pursue. To the degree we labor and fight for these things we experience more of God's fullness and portray what will take place in glory for all eternity.
In light of these three reasons, we now ask ourselves, what does it look like to maintain unity and pursue diversity here at HRF?
Stay tuned for Part 2!
Grace & Peace,
HRF Elders