Heard Calvin Miller speak last night.  He is a great storyteller, but one phrase stuck out to me – the church is to be a “community of redemption.”  I started thinking about that phrase:

Community – not just a collection of individuals but a community, a family, a group.  Think relationships.  Think loving one another, caring for one another, encouraging one another.  Compassion.  Community.

Of redemption – not just a social club or a holy huddle.  Rather a people who have been redeemed that go out to share that redemption with others in great need of it.  Again, there is compassion as we share that redemption with others.

May God help our churches (and may we do our part) to be communities of redemption.