What God did in our church in Rockhampton at a congregational level He wants to do at a citywide level. The change required to achieve this requires the miraculous intervention of God, and the prayers of His people.

In previous articles in this set, I have spoken about the dramatic changes in our church as a result of receiving the community anointing from Christ. This was not something we could have done ourselves and not something we deserved, or even understood initially. It was grace, and it was a blessing to us.

We came into a place where the vision was focused in our hearts, and we worked together to achieve many things for the sake of Christ. The most profound changes were in how we felt toward each other and loved each other. The spirit of competition was gone. This was to provide us with a long period of grace and stability which continues even to this day and for which we are grateful.

However, at the same time as this had happened, there was tremendous resistance in our city to the congregations being in unity. Pastors did not meet together and this had gone on for decades. It wasn’t as if they would speak negatively about each other (at least most of the time) but they were too busy with their own agendas and ministries, to consider each other. Of course nobody would say this publicly or admit it was them. Each minister would say that “I have tried to get the Body of Christ together, but nobody else was interested.”

It was very apparent to us that the grace that we had received from Christ for our people and our church has to spread beyond just one local congregation, and must be something that influences our City. This is the next level of community and this is where we are right now.

It is our prayer that Christ will give the whole Church of our city (Rockhampton, Queensland) the same grace He gave to our local church (Peace Christian Church). We are working towards this end in our prayers and also in building relationships with other church leaders. There are some great leaders in our city who have caught the vision and are working with us, and there are some others who have yet to catch it, but we love them just the same. Praise God for progress.

The grace of Christ for community is not something that should be confined just to a local congregation and you should not seek just that alone. You should seek to see God’s Kingdom advanced beyond the walls of your people and allow grace to come for your whole city. This is what we should all strive for. This is the next level of community.