This is the conclusion we reached at Christ, Coffee, and Conversation last Sunday. Since September, college students and young adults have been gathering at the ministry center at 8:30 each Sunday morning. Over a delectable breakfast and some good coffee (courtesy of Copper Horse), we talk about spiritual formation with Pastor Matt.
Specifically, we have been discussing virtue ethics, evaluating life from the perspective of design or purpose. Think about an orchestra. Ever wonder about the person playing the cymbal waiting for his or her big moment to shine? The cymbal player has a purpose. What habits would he or she have to build to be ready for that moment?
In this discussion we looked at the first verses of Hebrews 11—the remarkable “hall of faith” passage. It says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
At one point in the conversation, Pastor Matt asked me what aspects of faith my family witnessed on our recent trip to Japan and India?
We attended the wedding of a dear Japanese friend of ours named Mose. He is the son of a pastor in a country where less than 1% of the population are practicing Christians. Mose and Rachel honored God with their wedding, and its sole purpose was to declare Christ to the many non-Christian Japanese attending the wedding. On behalf of CICF, a group of us read Scripture in many different languages to show that Mose’s God is a global God.
In India, we had the opportunity to gather for worship with two community churches. The first was a small house-church that my father started in the late 90’s and the second was started in the early 80’s by my grandfather. He was an Abrahamic-like figure, the first in the community to believe in Christ.
These churches in Japan and India build up their faith by meeting together to “stir one another up to love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10.24-25) Their faith is not practiced in isolation. It is social.
What habits are you building to believe the things unseen?