DNA: The Building Blocks of Who We Are

“Often in life we forget the things that we should remember

and remember the things that we should forget.”

  

  While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and resumed their trip. When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table but she didn't miss them until they’d been driving for about forty minutes. By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses. And all the way back, her husband was the classic grumpy old man, fussing and complaining. He scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up. Finally, to her relief, they arrived at the restaurant. As the berated woman got out of the car and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, “While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and credit card.” 

  According to researcher, Karen Bolla, everyone periodically forgets things. Here are the six things we most often forget: Names – 83%; Where something is – 60%; Telephone numbers – 57%; Words – 53%; What was said – 49%; Faces - 42%. And if you can’t remember whether you’ve just done something, you’re in good company with 38% of the population.

  The Bible has a lot to say about remembering. The word remember is used 234 times in the Bible. But God knows how forgetful we are. In the Old Testament, we find that God continually gave His people memory reminders to assist them in remembering. In the New Testament, we have two of those that were given to the local church so we wouldn’t forget what Jesus has done for us in our salvation: Baptism and Communion.

  For the next several weeks we’re breaking from our series on 1 Samuel for a new summer series: DNA – The Building Blocks of Who We Are. We want to unpack who we are and why we do what we do at Grace. Many of you are new to our church and we want you to know our DNA and why we do what we do. Yet, even for those who’ve been here for years or decades, it’s easy to forget our purpose or what we’re calling our DNA.

  If you asked most Americans what makes being part of a church important, according to The Pew Research Center, you’d hear reasons like…attending church is important because we have children. Others admit that they primarily go to church because they feel obligated. Some attend a church because they’re looking for guidance to help them through life. Some go to church to feel God’s presence. Then, others go to church for fellowship and social reasons.

  While none of those reasons are wrong, they’re not necessarily biblical and they’re not our DNA at Grace Church. While other gospel teaching churches are similar to ours, none of us are clones. Each church has its own distinctives, values, and personality. While we do not believe that we are the best church in the community and we don’t believe in competing or trying to “sell” people on our church. We are though committed to being the best church that we can be for the glory of God. We are committed to building His Kingdom not our little Empire.

  We also know we’re not for everybody. There are many good churches within driving distance of our church. They have pastors and people who love the Lord and are seeking to please Him. That’s why every week at our church prayer meeting we pray for area gospel-preaching churches and we partner together with them on ministries like our teen program.

  At Grace, we want to be transparent about who we are. Many times when someone has called or visited our church and we find that they’re looking for a certain program or type of ministry that’s not us, we direct them elsewhere. At Grace, we’re committed to the biblical reality that every Christian should be a fully committed Christ-follower. There are times though when because of our values, personality, or DNA, someone will thrive more spiritually in another church. Growing spiritually, becoming more like Jesus, and glorifying Him, is more important than being part of Grace Church. We just don’t want to be an obstacle in someone’s loving and being more like Jesus.

  We are though very, very excited about what the Lord is doing here at Grace and where we’re headed. In the last few years, we’ve seen more come to Christ or get juiced about their faith or walk with the Lord than we have in decades. We’ve experienced a fresh moving of God’s Spirit in our church family, more than ever before. We’re headed in a direction and we want to make sure our church family knows where we are going and remembers who we are.

  For some, this series will be just a good reminder. It’s easy for a church to become distracted or focused on the nonessentials. For others, this will be new. Perhaps you thought that all churches are essentially the same. They’re not. Every church has its own DNA.  

  What is church DNA? Essentially, it’s the essence or soul of a church. It’s the often unspoken assumptions that shape a church’s vision, values, and mission. It’s subtly mirrored in a church’s symbols, stories, and history. It’s difficult to define because it’s invisible, like the air we breathe.

  Sometimes DNA is most easily understood when things are out of alignment when something isn’t quite right. A church that is out of sync with its DNA is one of the greatest causes of conflict in a local church family and creates more damage than nearly any other church issue. Incongruence with DNA can be highly destructive.

  Perhaps you remember several years ago when Sears launched “the softer side of Sears” campaign, it bombed. Why? Because when people think of Sears, they think of tools or appliances, not nightgowns and dress suits. It didn’t fit their DNA. Healthy churches have a clear sense of identity. They know their DNA and they don't readily deviate from it.

  At Grace we want you to know our DNA, so for the next few weeks, we’ll be working through some of our values and what we believe is important. It won’t be exhaustive. It will help all of us though be on the same page, so we can grow together, better pray, and move forward together for His glory…because that’s what it’s really all about – pleasing King Jesus!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.