28 Feb The Mother Lode of Community

In 1882, the Morgan Brothers started mining a seam of gold on Ironstone Mountain that proved to be incredibly wealthy. Not long after, during the early years, they were pulling in gold at the rate of more than ten ounces per tonne of dirt. The Mt Morgan Gold Mine in Central Queensland ended up being the wealthiest gold mine on the planet at that point, and the royalties paid to the colonial government of Queensland were a great boost in helping the fledgling colonies to federate and become Australia.

Yet despite how wonderful and long lasting the gold was, rumours have persisted to this day about a Mother Lode. Many an old time digger has commented that he believes the real lode of gold is yet to be discovered, and what was already found was just a small part of the bigger whole.

The above story is true, and it bears similarity to what God has done at Peace Christian Church with the discovery of the community anointing in 2002. That year was an astounding year in the life of the church, and it can be hard to get a true sense of the momentous things God did. It wasn’t so much a discovery of community, as an outpouring of community. While John Alley and the people of Peace were looking for community, it was in response to their seeking that the Lord gave a revelation of what to pray, and then responded to those prayers with the precious gift of the Spirit of Understanding. To get a bigger picture, you will need to read John’s book, Holy Community where these events are described.

Needless to say, that in 2002, the church of Peace was blessed with an corporate baptism of the Spirit which brought the precious gift of community. Grace was given that enabled the church to function at a high level of love, acceptance and service. We found ourselves free of striving, competition and many of the typical problems in church life ceased to exist. This grace has served us well, and been a seam of God’s goodness to us all these years since.

However, like the story about Mt Morgan, we believe there is a Mother Lode to be found. This is another bigger touch of grace for community that far surpasses what was previously received. Whereas in Mt Morgan it was merely conjecture about the mother lode, in this case what we seek and wait for is real.

God is wanting to pour out his Spirit on all flesh. That is what the prophet Joel said (Joel 2:28) which was quoted in the sermon on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:17) This pouring out is not just something God wants to do for each individual as though he only had individual blessings to impart. No, God is wanting to pour out his spirit on the “all,” that is the larger group. So it makes sense to conclude that God wants to find groups of people who love and trust Him, and who are willing to seek him together, that they might together receive the Spirit, and become communities of grace.

And we are saying that there is a major impartation that God wants to give to His people.

As people at Peace we believe that God is able to do more than we ask, (Ephesians 2:20) . We expect that there is more grace for us as a community of peoples. However we know with certainty that God is wanting to do the same for your congregation and many other ministries around the world. That is certainly one way that a bigger grace is supposed to be obtained. (2 Corinthians 9:8) .

And another way is God’s desire to pour out this grace on all his people in a given region. So its not just a local congregation that can find this community gold, but the Church of a region, which is all the believers. All of God’s saints in a given city are supposed to find increased love for each other, and together come into great unity. They are to have their hearts knit and to pray with one purpose.

So on such a city church, and on such a group, there is truly a Mother Lode to be found. There is a great grace yet to be revealed for the community anointing on believers who are able and willing to receive it. So let us seek this grace. Let us seek the mother lode for community. And let us make our lives submitted to Christ, so He can shape and mould us ready for His purpose.

It is time to seek God and pray for the mother lode.