Pillars and Practices // Connect and Engage // Tim Lovell // September 14, 2025

Pillars and Practices // Connect and Engage

Here are two simple reasons to stop and think about our own connectedness within the church family:

1.     Connecting to the Community Puts Us in a Place to Love and be Loved

1 Corinthians 12:31 (CSB)

“And I will show you an even better way.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 (CSB)

“Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.”

Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

2.     Connecting to the Body of Christ is Essential to Living. Scripture Reveals to Us that We are Better Together than if We Stay Disconnected.

1 Corinthians 12:12-18 (NLT)

“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with

the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”

Steps to Connecting

Be Pleasant

Be Approachable

Find Common Interests

Be Willing to Learn

Be Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak and Slow to Become Angry

Practice Being Loving

Enemies of Connecting

Pride

Insecurity

Fear

Criticism

Divisiveness

Our Own Echo Chambers of Agreement that Pit Us Against Others Who Think Differently.

Jesus is Still Our Hope.