From what I learned from its website and the morning service that My Joy and I listened to on Greencroft’s channel 13, the Nappanee Missionary Church is a successful and prosperous church. It seemed to me that the missionary church is living up to its name.
The church presents itself as being and making “fully committed disciples” of Jesus. They declare that God’s plan is not a silly hybrid of blending some of Him and some of society, with a mix of our own ideas. God’s plan is for a people that will passionately and obediently follow Him, fully committed. They say that their church is one body made up of many ministries ranging from Children’s Ministries to Global Impact Teams. They believe the most impact is made by their being community.
The worship service was introduced by a talented worship team. I warmed to it because they led us in singing songs that were familiar to me. My Joy and I listened to the middle sermon of a series of three sermons on the theme of “More” based on the Gospel of John 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The first sermon in the series was on “grace” and the sermon we listened to was on “truth.” The pastor moved through incidents in the Gospel of John to show that truth hurts, helps, and heals. He emphasized that grace and truth are of equal importance. He announced that the third in the series of sermons would be “What ever happened to truth?”
I don’t know what the pastor intends to say on that subject. I have a hunch that the third sermon may be more critical and less good news than the other two sermons. I wonder if their pastor and the pastor of Griner Mennonite Church have similar concerns for their community.