Matthew 16:13-18
Today just happens to be Heritage Sunday. And coincidentally today we are celebrating a part of Grace's Heritage. In the early days of the Methodist church in late 1700's and the early 1800's circuit riding preachers traveled around the country side. When they found a group of people they preached. If there were people there the next time they came by they formed a society. After a society grew they formed a congregation. The idea was to take the church to the people just as John Wesley had done.
In the 1980's church leaders came to the realization that we had grown away from that philosophy. There were little Methodist Church at just about every crossroads in the country but not very many where the people were, in the urban and suburban centers that had been growing. So many conferences, including our own, began consciously planting churches where the people were. Grace is an early manifestation of that movement. Northeast UMC started the year before Grace and Faith UMC in Lexington formed the year after us are other examples.
In December of 1984, coincidentally the bicentennial of the Methodist Church, a group of churches on the north side of Columbia decided to plant a new church in this growing area. The rest is history. Paul Wood was appointed and this land was purchased. And in April of 1989, 15 years ago, ground was broken for this building. Coincidentally, the ground breaking was April 2, 1989 and we made the last payment on the building on April 5th, 2004.
There was a reason for placing this church here. That ad hoc District committee had a vision. They saw the opportunity to reach out to new people. They wanted to put a church where the people were. And even before most of Harbison was here this congregation was established.
The conference had a vision for this congregation. They helped to purchase the land on which it now stands and which we are still developing. And the bishop appointed a pastor to start this ministry. They had a vision of an outpost of the Gospel. A place that could be a center of spreading scriptural holiness to a population that was rapidly growing.
The first members of this church had a vision. They dreamed of a center of worship. A place where people could learn and grow in faith. Perhaps the best indication of their vision is the name they chose for this new church: Grace. That is our heritage.
Today we celebrate a milestone in that heritage. This building was conceived of as the first in a group of buildings. This was simply phase one. Phase one was build 15 years ago. Now we celebrate the completion of that phase.
This is where grace's Heritage meets its legacy. Even as we pay off phase one we envision phase two. We are already in the process of preparing to build something new. Like those circuit riding preachers and like the ad hoc committee and like the early members of Grace, we have a vision.
We have a vision of a church that continues to take the church to the people. We see growing Sunday School classes. We envision weekday programs for seniors and scouts. We envision Bible studies and support groups and ministry work areas being able to meet at the same time without crowding each other out.
You see Grace also has a legacy. Others will come after us. Grace will continue to minister. Grace will continue to know Jesus and make him known to others. And the church that we leave behind to continue that mission will be our legacy.
Whether you talk about our heritage or our legacy, the foundation of all of this is the confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus had reached a milestone in his ministry. Jesus and the disciples had done a lot. They had healed the sick and fed the hungry masses and proclaimed the good news of the coming of God's kingdom. And Jesus was about to head toward Jerusalem to leave his final legacy for the church.
At this milestone in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" The answers ran the gambit from John the Baptist to one of the prophets of old. Then Jesus directed to question at the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus replied, "You are Peter, a chip off the old block and on this rock I will build my church."
There is a lot of speculation as to what that rock is. But one of the more prominent interpretations is that it is Peter's confession. Jesus will build his church on the confession that he is the Christ the son of the living God. And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it!
Today the heritage of Grace meets its legacy. Our heritage is that some people led by the Holy Spirit wanted to take the church to the people. Like John Wesley and the early Methodists they wanted to spread Scriptural Holiness. Some of those people envisioned a place in northwest Columbia where people could come to know Christ and make him known to others. Today we celebrate the dedication of phase one of the building that will support that vision!
But we already have on the drawing board phase two. That will be our legacy to future generations. But even as we consider phase two we envision a phase three and four. It is my hope that some day in the future I will receive an invitation to the service burning the mortgage and dedicating this new building we are planning to build.
There was a reason why the founding members of this church retained over 8 acres of land. They envisioned an eight acre campus. I don't know how many are aware Grace owns the land all they way over to the Lutheran church. Where those woods begin is where Grace's land begins. It extends all the way back to the end of the new parking lot and there is a strip of land that extends behind the Lutheran Church and the Church of the Cross. The original master plan included a collection of five buildings of which this is but the first.
But whether we are building phase two or three or four or whatever, let us remember the foundation. This church, and the church in general, must be build on the rock of Christ. We need to remember that any phase of the church must be built on the confession that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God. That is the rock that Jesus build the church on and it is the rock upon which Grace is built.