What Does It Mean To Be An Interfaith Christian Bridge Builder?

Part 5 – Building Bridges between the Church of Interfaith Christians and Its Members

This will be the last in my little series on Bridge Building.  Since I started the series more and more subjects have come to mind that would fit right in.  Bridges are designed to bring things together.  As I have worked on this series, I keep thinking about Jesus and how Jesus was a bridge between God and man.

God broke through the ‘humanity’ barrier and took on flesh, cultural patterns, thought patterns, practices and the frailty associated with humanity.  He left His ‘God World’ and entered our ‘human world’ and he did so out of love.

Now we, motivated by God’s love are breaking through the ‘faith’ barriers seeking to understand each other and finding areas of common ground, getting involved with each other and sharing our needs, struggles, and even our intellectual doubts.  We are here to help each other and we are building bridges with each other.

I approach every message, or series of messages, with much prayer and taking my directives from God.  It always seems that he has specific things in mind He wants said.  Sometimes the words flow very easy while other times, like today, I find it difficult to grasp the whole picture.  I have to work a little harder and strive to understand a little better word by word, sentence by sentence.  I realize I have much to learn along the way and it is important that I do not get caught up in any ‘religious certainty’ that so many religious leaders seem to get into these days and in so doing can completely miss the blessings of God.

This is the Church of Interfaith Christians.  The members of this church were drawn here.  Many would say they were drawn here by the words of Dr. Ernest Steadman.  It’s true Dr. Steadman may have been the instrument used but it was God who drew us here.  Each and every one of us is important to God.  I hear a lot of members talk about Dr Steadman, what he was like and what his vision was.

Many, including myself, recognized Dr. Steadman had a big heart and loved everyone.  He was really good about the small things and he reached out to help each of us in many little ways.  We all have such good memories of him.  That was Dr. Steadman the individual though.  It was not the ‘Church’.  However, Dr. Steadman was a bridge between the CoIC and us, its members.

Many talk about Dr. Steadman and his vision.  “We mustn’t let his vision die,” they say.  Did any of us really understand fully what his vision was?  It was part of Dr. Steadman’s dream to see a network of small CoIC congregations founded by church members in the real world, not just internet ministries.  In his last few months Dr. Steadman had grown dismayed at the number of ordained clergy that once given credentials, simply disappeared into the night.  He knew that not all could build congregations, but with 80% or better of the clergy never having been heard from again, he was saddened.

I have been amazed at the numbers myself as I have been working on the membership records.  I can realize and understand his disappointment.  I also see something else, in order for Dr. Steadman’s vision to come to fruit with the members of the church it needed to be shared by the members of the church.  It needed to become their vision as well.  There is a higher power that is connecting us.  We have an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility for this vision.

The church needs to provide a climate of mutual trust so that all the members may grow and develop within it.  This is where our bridge building starts.  The church or the leaders of the church need to be careful to teach only that which is true and good.  We need to consciously and consistently create and sustain congenial conditions so our members can feel confident and comfortable, ‘at home’ if you will.  We need to teach and lead by example the values of tolerance and respect.

A child is naturally a most trusting and believing being.  ‘Not to trust and believe’ has to be learned.  The church needs to guide us back to that state of trusting and believing and do so through unconditional love.  We are all children of God but sometimes we need help getting back in alignment with our true values.  Faith is a personal thing.  Each and every one of us can make that divine connection for ourselves.  There is much diversity among us as the members of the CoIC.  We can thrive on that diversity but we must also find our common ground.

Our bridge must be built on values that transcend gender, race, religion and culture.  These are the values that will move us forward.  The divine presence of God is within each of us.  We are our brother’s and our sister’s keeper.  We can start with building on a common set of beliefs about how we treat each other and other people.  We can aspire to act not just for ourselves but for the greater good.  We should always strive to align our actions with truth.  We must believe in tolerance.  We need to be humane and compassionate.  There’s been an enormous amount of damage done around the world in the name of religion, or maybe I should say ‘religious certainty’ since so many do and seem so certain of what they are doing and yet harm the very people God loves.  We cannot be like that and realize everlasting peace and happiness.

The Divine Connection and Holy Spirit are in all of us.  It is so important that each and every one of us establish a spiritual connection with our creator and source.  The Holy Spirit makes this possible for all of us.  Our thoughts should be on what God wants us to do.  He lays the ground work for us.  Truly He makes the plans and gives each one of us a piece of it.  While He inspires each one of us to be creative and fulfill our purpose, He has a way of weaving us all into this beautiful tapestry of life.  The one strong thread that runs throughout it all is ‘love’; God’s love for us, our love for Him and our love for ourselves and for each other.  We have come together in this church or rather God has put us together in this church.  We need to build this bridge together.  In this sense we are both the members and the church.

At first the big picture was difficult to comprehend.  I was trying to see the vision from where we sit now.  Then I realized there is the Church as it is now and there is the church as it will one day be in the future.  As I think about what we need to do to build this bridge, I see a lot of potential but we are not there yet.  There is much to be done.  So I’m going to start talking about what we will be building for our future. 

This church has not developed to the point Reverend Steadman wanted it to be.  Maybe that is because his vision was so big it would take more than his lifetime to accomplish it in.  Maybe it is a very long bridge ‘he and we’ are building.  Just maybe God meant it to be a bridge that a lot of folks are to work on together, Rev. Stedman having been the founder and first leader.

Reverend Steadman established the Church of Interfaith Christians online already cutting through many boundaries as far as communities, countries, and faiths are concerned.  Being an online church is a step into the future of being a headquarters church  meant to lead other churches.  Our members from around the world can interact with each other.  We can post things about sacred texts and various Christ based faiths which will help us to understand spiritual truths.  We can ask questions, give opinions and truly be interfaith.  The denominational walls will come tumbling down.

Many people grow tired of the traditional brick and mortar church environment.  They desire more stimulation for spiritual growth and knowing Jesus personally.  They want to be fed truths (not dogma), truths of the Bible, truths of other sacred texts as well and truths from within different faiths.  They want to examine these truths for themselves and make their own decisions and participate in the enlightenment together with others.

The church or what I call ‘the members collective’ must not only work on building this bridge but must work on growing in such a way as to assist each individual member in fulfilling their purpose and meaning in life.  The church needs to ‘minister’ and serve its members and do only that which is good; that is do only what is for the higher good of all involved.  In that we must do no harm but teach only love.

The individual members must also work on the bridge.  As in the way of bridge building the bridge must be built from both sides.  Individuals need to be supportive in their prayers and participation.  Each and every one of us is so important to God.  We are all different and we must not criticize or judge each other on our differences.  We need to respect each other and be willing to put our differences aside and work with each other.  We are all part of a larger collective here.  We need to be able to share our thoughts and ideas.  We need to make it safe for others to do so as well.  We must reach out to each other in love as God is reaching out to us.  Each of us needs to listen to that voice down deep inside us and then step up to the plate.  We need to feel the truth and goodness within ourselves and be a part of something that is much bigger than ourselves.  We must move over and let God be in charge, in charge of each of us and in charge of this church.

In next week’s message, I will talk about CoIC vision.  I welcome any of you who would like to share your thoughts on what this vision is.

Blessings, Reverend Sharra