Ecumenical and Interreligious

Local and Universal Church

We are a local church that’s attempting to live in authentic and intentional community. We also have profound respect for the presence of the entire, mystical Body of Christ which is made up of a diverse multitude of local churches and extends globally and even universally into heaven. We see it as no small thing to be counted as a part of the Communion of the Saints (God the Father’s one family in heaven and on earth). We are convinced that our authenticity stems from a genuine love that God has fostered in us for the entire Body of Christ in all of its different streams and persuasions. In an interview, Billy Graham was asked what the future of the church is, and he replied: “I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the Body of Christ … I think James answered that, the Apostle James in the first council in Jerusalem, when he said that God’s purpose for this age is to call out a people for His name. And that’s what God is doing today, He’s calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ, because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they are saved, and that they’re going to be with us in heaven.”  The intention of our living in community is that it makes our local church flexible enough to serve other local churches regardless of their denominational affiliations or preferred traditions. We join the prayer of the early Church Fathers, who sincerely prayed: “As this piece of bread was scattered over the hills and then brought together and made one, so let Your Church be brought together from the ends of the earth into Your Kingdom. For Yours is the Glory and the Power through Jesus Christ forever.”

Our diverse family meets all over the world in homes, parks, cathedrals, chapels, warehouses, synagogues, ashrams, monasteries, sweat lodges, mosques, temples, strip malls, abandoned buildings, trailer parks, beaches, schools, casinos, pubs, boats, and just about any place one can imagine. There is no land in which they cannot be found.They are rich and poor; of every color, of every tribe, of every language, and every culture.Yet all of us meet at the heavenly throne to worship the Lamb of God.

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