Image from The Global Church Project Website 

Often, people speak of the distinction between the “little c church,” referring to church as a local congregation, and “big C Church” which is the worldwide body of Christians.

Pastor Mike Sullivan is a local pastor at Emmaus City Church in Worcester. This year, he has been participating in the ACT 3 Missional Unity Cohort of leaders in Boston. In this sermon, he shares a wonderful description of what it means to be a local church within the “Big C Church.” He provides tangible explanations  about the earmarks of a church that embodies the mission of God, as well as practical questions so people can live out God’s calling for missional unity in their own lives.

Click here to listen to the sermon on “Big C Church Unity.” 

Email Scott Brill for more information about the Initiative Missional Unity Cohort in Boston in 2019: thebrillopad@gmail.com

 

For Pastor Mike, the story of Jesus with His disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of the “Christ incognito.” He describes that “with a smile at God’s winking sense of humor, the people of Emmaus City often find themselves on roads with people in Worcester seeking Jesus, trusting that God is at work even when we can’t see or know clearly what God is doing.” They have found this to be true in the life of their City Groups (i.e. missional communities), as well as being part of Jesus’ Big “C” Church among the local churches throughout Worcester as a whole.

Here is a story that Pastor Mike shares about how they live out being part of Jesus’ Big C Church in Worcester:

“The Worcester Alliance for Refugee Ministry (WARM) reached out to us to help host 75+ Arabic-speaking and mostly Muslim neighbors from Syria, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern countries for a time of fun, food, and hearing about Isa (Jesus), and why people celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter. Emmaus City Church’s leaders and the leaders of First Assembly of God Worcester joined together, and Emmaus City had the humble privilege to display the hospitality of God to all who came in partnership with people from various denominational backgrounds connected to WARM.

There was no prediction of what the Spirit of God would do next. But a month later, one of the leaders of WARM shared that the invitation to look more into Isa’s story in the Bible that was given to those who came to the event had a powerful response of 46 people showing up, including 32 who are Arabic-speaking refugees and immigrants from other faith traditions.

The prayers of people from multiple churches throughout Worcester is that this search into who Isa is may be the beginning of an Arabic-speaking community in Worcester that knows, shares, and reveals Isa as Emmanuel, the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King. Soli Deo gloria!”