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What’s In a Name?

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by Pastor Ryan White

Elim Evangelical Free Church derives its name from an oasis in the desert.

In the Old Testament book of Exodus, we catch up with a ragtag group of former slaves as they trek across the sun-scorched wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. They are on journey of rescue and becoming. Recently liberated from bondage in Egypt and having passed through the waters of the Red Sea, they desperately pursue their divine Deliverer as He leads them forward into newness and life.

We read in Exodus 15:27, “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.” Stumbling into Elim was an unexpected grace. It provided much-needed refreshment and a haven from the heat. Yet as the road-weary Hebrews settled in for a time of rest and recovery, I wonder if they were struck by the resonant power of that place.

Elim was more than a pleasant watering hole. The landscape thrummed with divine communication. It was an oasis not just for the renewal of thirsty souls, but for the renewal of purpose.

Let me explain. Did you notice the 12 springs of living water? There just happens to be one for each tribe of God’s redeemed family. All will be able to drink their fill from these invigorating wells. Observe, too, the 70 date palms that encircle the springs, brought to life by their flow. Seventy is a symbolically significant number, representative of the 70 nations of the ancient world.

So what’s the message? Elim was intended to remind Israel of their ancestral call, to bring to mind God’s words to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3: “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. . . . And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The Lord has called us to adventure, to leave what is comfortable and familiar and to journey with Him into a future packed with promise. And yes, He will bless us. We will drink deeply of God’s life-giving presence, but that renewal is not for us alone. It’s a renewal for the nations, for our sun-parched neighbors, friends, and coworkers. We are blessed to be a blessing.

This is an important lesson for us because it is easy to get offtrack living in the oasis of God’s renewal. It is quite easy to think of Elim as all about our restoration and zen. When we do, we’ll want to put up walls around it. “This is my life-sustaining pool. Don’t stick sweaty, dirt-caked feet into these clean waters. Also, get your herd of noisy, spitting camels out of here. You’re disrupting the bliss and magic of this place!”

It is my prayer that we would not miss the invitation of Elim. Yes, the water flows to restore us on our journeys, but it bubbles up so that it might be channeled through us, so that life might bloom in the dry desert of our city. As we emerge from this season of isolation and difficulty, may our church prove to be an oasis for renewal, but may the Lord also renew our purpose: to share His life with a thirsty world.

As Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

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Community Groups at Elim: A “Church Within a Church Within a Church”

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By Larry Short, Community Ministry Director

This is the final installment in a seven-part series on principles guiding community life at Elim. To read all seven principles in one document, click here.

If you’ve ever seen the movie Inception, this concept may sound familiar. In the movie, there are sleuths (Leonardo DiCaprio plays the lead sleuth here) who are experts at entering people’s dream states to try to extract important information from them. It gets more than a little twisted when they have to take it down two or more levels, creating a dream state within a dream state, within a dream state. Which gives rise to all kinds of adventuresome challenges for returning to the “real world” . . . if there is such a thing!

(How’s that for a one-paragraph movie review? I dare you to try sleeping through this movie.)

At any rate, to some extent community groups and the way they function within the Body of Christ remind me of the premise of this movie. First, we all know that a Body of Believers such as the one you find here at Elim is merely a “church within a Church.” Ultimately, everyone who calls Christ Lord is a member of the same Body, the Body of Christ. Elim is only one local manifestation, a church within a Church.

I’ve found that the most effective community groups function as little “churches” within a church (such as Elim), within the Church (the Body of Christ). That is, many of the things that we are blessed by and bless others with, as a result of being members of the Body of Christ, happen well within the context of community groups.

I was reflecting on this last night while sitting around the fire pit in Bob Walsh’s backyard with a group of Elim men at one of our Men’s Conversations. We ate great food together. We worshipped together. We prayed together. Then Isaac McKenzie led us in a discussion that quickly got down to the nitty-gritty of how we live lives as men devoted to Christ together, in the context of relationships with other men (Pauls, Timothies, Barnabases—more on that here). There was honest discussion, and we encouraged one another onward in our journeys as fathers, husbands, men, and followers of Jesus.

I was encouraged to hear how the lives of so many men were being impacted by what was happening in small groups they were a part of at Elim, formal or informal!

During this weekend’s sermon, we will be looking at James 1:22-27, which begins with the simple and very direct admonition: “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” God is implanting His Word in us. Often, we will receive it and say “Amen,” but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of daily life, we then “forget” to implement what we have learned and proclaimed. James tells us that professed faith is not authentic faith unless it is lived out in lives of God-directed action.

And community groups are an ideal place where we can safely “stir up one another to love and good works,” as Hebrews 10:24 exhorts us.

In this seventh and final principle in this series for life in community groups, I see the following three ways community groups help fulfill this “church within a church within the Church” mandate:

  • Small groups are often the place where a believer’s spiritual giftsfirst float to the surface. In the community ministry, we will work with group leaders to hone a process for helping their group members discover and use their spiritual gifts effectively to minister to others. Use your small group to exercise the “one anothers” of Scripture with your brothers and sisters in Christ!
  • Groups play an incredibly important part of the prayer life of the Church.This ministry will exhort, support, and encourage a vital prayer life within small groups.
  • Small groups are the place where the best care and shepherding In a traditional church model, the “professional” pastors are responsible to visit the sick and bereaved. But when tragedy strikes someone who is involved in a small group, many times the best care comes directly from other group members who are in community with that person. We will work with group leaders to help them develop as wise and caring shepherds of the little flocks God has entrusted to them.

Our prayer for you as we close out this series is that if you are not yet involved in a community group here at Elim, you won’t hesitate to jump in! Many new groups traditionally get rolling in September as school begins, so watch for an announcement of groups that are meeting, and don’t hesitate to contact a group leader to ask questions and express interest. (If you need help getting started, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at LarryShort@gmail.com!)

Also, if you are already involved in a community group at Elim as a leader, an apprentice leader, or as a member in any other leadership role, know that we are praying for you and desire to come alongside you in this challenging task. You are a “little pastor” to whom God has given responsibility to shepherd and care for a portion of His flock. We exhort you to spend daily time on your knees before Him, seeking a godly vision for your group and asking for His help in making a real difference in the lives of the people He has entrusted to you.

Thank you for reading this series, and I pray you all will have a blessed and renewing summer as you grow in your walk with Jesus!

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Molar or Pinkie Toe?

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By Nate Champneys

I was driving down the street the other day following another car, and I watched the driver roll down their window and throw a bag of fast food trash out in the street. It really bothered me. But I had to ask the question, “Why does this bother me the way it does?” The reality is that this person’s littering doesn’t really affect me when it comes to my day-to-day life. Technically, it’s probably none of my business. But the thought that ran through my head was, “Why would you want to deface your own street?” To me, the problem goes much deeper than some litter on the ground. When I see graffiti along the side of the road, I view it as a much deeper problem than an ugly (or sometimes beautiful) mark on a fence or building. Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped thinking of America as our country and started thinking of it as “someone else’s” country, and it has created many problems. Where there is no ownership in something, there is no reason for a person to take pride in that thing, and therefore there is no reason to care for that thing. It is a sad reality.

The problem is that this very same attitude has also crept into the church. As a pastor, I have a front-row seat to observe this phenomenon. I see it when something is broken or run-down and someone asks, “When is somebody going to fix that ______?” Or somebody says, “We need to buy a new ______. This one is really run-down.” Or, “The chairs in the sanctuary are so dirty, someone really ought to clean them.” But many times we get sucked into this way of thinking. If your bedroom is a mess, you never make the comment, “Somebody needs to clean this up.” You understand that it’s your bedroom and so it’s your problem. Now don’t get me wrong, there are so many people who step up without being asked and take ownership. But somewhere along the way, many people have started to view the church as, “The church I attend,” instead of viewing it as, “My church home.”

The reality is that no one person owns our building. No one person is in charge. We are a “congregation-run church.” If you are a member, you are a part owner. The grounds outside: it’s your lawn. The kitchen sink inside: it’s your sink. But it goes further. The Wednesday night Awana program: it’s your program. The women’s Bible study: it’s your study. The community group you attend: it’s not the community group you attend, it’s your community group. Elim is your church. If it’s not yours, whose is it? Is it Pastor Martin’s? Mine? Brian’s? Ultimately, it is Jesus’ church, but He has created us in Him to “be the church.” We all may have different roles in the body, but we are still created to function within the body.

Really, our job as pastors is to empower people to serve Christ and His body, however God designed them to do it. A few weeks back, Bryan Anderson came to me and said, “Nate, would you mind if I took a look at the drinking fountain?” It had been broken all summer because of a leak. I said, “Would I mind?! Are you kidding me!? Absolutely!” It brings me so much joy to see people take ownership of this family that we call Elim and serve her. Obviously not everyone can fix a drinking fountain, but Bryan was offering himself to Christ in the way Jesus designed him to function.

My question to you is, what is your function? Every body part has a reason for existing, a purpose that only it can fulfill. Trust me, Jesus did not make any of us to be useless. I may be a left molar, and you may be a right pinkie. But in any case, we all have a function and exist as part of a whole. Paul tells us in Romans 12, “so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” What a beautiful picture.

My hope in writing this is for it to be not a guilt trip for you, but permission to function as Jesus created you to be. For you to unashamedly, passionately serve Elim (and the global Church beyond) in the way Jesus created you to serve. To be the best lung, or kidney, or pinkie toe (or whatever role he created you for) in the body of Christ that you can be!

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship … For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. Romans 12:1, 4-6

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Faith-Sustaining Words

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By Beau Leaman

Hebrews 3:12-14
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Before Ashley and I joined Elim, we definitely had a strong desire to be involved in a church body. We had moved from Southern California to Washington trusting that God would move and open the doors we needed Him to open right away. Yet through the refining process we ended up not making Elim our home until about one year into our marriage. Our plans never worked out the way we wanted them to, but praise God that His plans are greater than ours.

I wanted to talk a little about the benefits of community and what it’s done in my life and my marriage. There are a couple of questions I’m going to run through, and hopefully it helps.

1) How has joining a community benefited your marriage?

Our marriage has been directly impacted by our joining Elim and being involved with the Body of Christ. It has impacted our marriage because we come freely to worship our God and have fellowship with His sons and daughters. It has benefited our marriage because we realize our depravity at an even greater level, thus urging a more powerful push to love our God with everything.

2) How has joining a community strengthened your relationship with your God?

Paul wanted so desperately to be with his Savior, but one thing that always caused him joy here on earth was the fellowship of the saints. I have found this to be true in my life as well as in the lives of so many of the brethren at Elim. Life is not meant to be alone. There have been countless times where truth has been spoken into my life, and it was not easy truth. This truth, humble and meek, has pointed me and the giver toward Christ. Your best friend speaks the most truth in your life, and for me those best friends have been several people within the Body of Christ.

Being in community is a powerful thing. Whether you’re single, soon to be wed, or married, there is a Spirit-driven calling that burns within our hearts to be with others. As Hebrews 3:12-14 points out, whether it involves encouragement, accountability, truth, confession, or prayer, the Body of Christ is here to edify, exhort, and promote endurance until the day of Jesus Christ.

What does community with a body of believers look like to you? Is it inconvenient? Would you rather be nowhere else? Does it ease conscience on a Sunday morning? Does it bring you joy? Does it edify? Does it harden your heart? Do you see a Trinitarian community played out? Does it build and encourage you? Does it involve selfish gain?

I have shared a piece of what the Body of Christ has accomplished in my life and the direct impact it has had with my God. What does the Body mean for you?

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Clubs

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by Mike Hellum

There was recently an article about Augusta National Country Club coming under attack for its policy of men-only. They should’ve seen it coming. If the boys of Little Rascals took heat 80 years ago when they formed the “He-man Womun Haters” club then it was only a matter of time for Augusta. But I digress. I started thinking about the whole exclusivity thing and what it means to belong to a club. Clubs bring benefits, or nobody would join them, but they also limit your freedom. There are certain rules that come with belonging to any club. We expect that.

I suppose there are (at least) a couple of reasons why clubs have rules. First, when you belong to a club, your behavior affects other members. No doubt the dress code at Augusta prohibits golfing in a mankini. We’re all grateful for that one. Sports teams typically have curfews because athletes who have been out all night don’t perform at their highest level; the whole team suffers. Or if you’re out late and your name is Tiger, you’ve got even bigger problems. The list could go on, but you get the idea.

Second, as a member of that club you are also a representative of the club. Outsiders naturally form opinions based on what they know about that entity. I have a rather positive impression about motorcycle riders, because I know some that I like and I don’t know any Hell’s Angels. What about Christians? Somebody once said, “There are five gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian; most will never read the first four.” If I’m all others know about Christianity, I hope they have a positive impression of it.

Like a club, Christianity has its own identification marks and behaviors. Jesus said so when he identified how people will recognize us (by our love — John 13:35). So what about when the church asks people to maintain certain standards of behavior? We’ve all heard people say, “They can’t tell me how to live!” If someone’s an outsider, the complaint is fair — I can’t expect them to live by the same code I do. G. K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. ”If it is a higher standard — and it is — why would an outsider want to be bound by it? On the other hand, if one identifies themselves as an insider, a different dynamic is in play. The insiders are bound together in a common cause and a common identification for a common good. It’s what it means to be in community — thus, we lay down our individual interests for the benefit of everyone else. It’s what Christ modeled for us (see Phil. 2, esp. vv. 1-4), and commanded us to model to the world. And with this “club,” the cost of admission is an investment that reaps infinite dividends.

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Grace, grace, incredible grace

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by Dan Amos

A few years ago, I was walking to church and passed by a small classical Greek-type statue thrown from a vehicle. I kept walking but the statue’s head caught my attention and I had to turn around and pick it up. I had been thinking about the direction life seemed to be taking and the debris of a replica statue from a failed civilization was something I couldn’t just pass by. It was a year or so later that I was given the opportunity to take an extended, unpaid vacation. I felt my change coming; surely that civilization felt change coming, too.

Now, I feel the change at Elim as we grow in numbers. Things are different and that can be unsettling. There are more new people than I can get to know. I think it is great that there are so many people coming together to worship and work out our faith together in community, but the social side of me wants to get to know everyone and I can’t. (Read more about church growth stress.)

I also sense issues percolating beneath the surface that need to be addressed. The difficulty is they often don’t appear until someone is frustrated to the point of giving up. This is where we can help each other cope with the change. The first step to resolving an issue is in knowing the issue exists. Tell someone who can make a change or point you to that person.

But the most important thing is grace, lots and lots of grace, both given and received. In the “Love and Respect” seminar, the speaker asserts in most cases our spouse is “a good-willed person” and good-willed people can still try one’s patience. As we grow and change, most of our frustrations are going to be caused by good-willed people and with communication and grace we’ll get through this and thrive. I am always thankful for the grace extended to me by my Elim family. It is desperately needed!

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