The Koinonia of Three

I was climbing a ladder the other day to get on my roof and trim a rather tall hedge on the side of my house. As I climbed, the hedge clippers in one hand, I thought about all those safety videos and lectures I received about “ladder safety,” and the “three points of contact.” To use ladders safely, always maintain three points of contact. That means two hands and one foot or two feet and one hand on the ladder at all times. With one hand occupied holding the clippers, I was not able to maintain three points of contact. The hedge was trimmed, and I ascended and descended the ladder successfully; Safely… well that’s a conversation for another day. “The Missio Dei” (the mission of God) is lived out through though the church from the earliest days, as recorded in the book of Acts. From the very beginning there were three things the church regularly practiced: 1) worship, 2) community, and 3) service – you may recognize there three things as the pathway for discipleship here at O’Fallon First. These three points of contact help each us ascend to the heights of our faith experience, and grow as disciples into koinonia, a Greek word which has no exact English translation, but is a divinely intimate, holy unity among believers. The mission of God is embodied in the church, built on the foundation of the Koinonia of these three.