CALEB BOHON: How God has blessed me as a member of this church.

How God has used Winchester Baptist and its members / elders to encourage us and grow us in our faith and practice:

When I was asked to speak about how God has blessed us through Winchester Baptist Church in the time Alyssa and I have been members, I thought of several specific aspects or ways that we have been blessed. Here are the five most important ones I thought of, first, the faithful preaching of God’s Word,  second, faithful spiritual care for us from other members and the elders, third, a place to practice gifts that God has given us, fourth, the diversity and unity of the congregation, fifth, community groups.

First, through the faithful preaching from God's Word, I've been convicted to obey God's Word, and encouraged to remember that Christ will hold me fast.

I don't think I have ever been in a church that was not healthy or did not preach faithfully from the Word of God, but recently I read a quote from Mark Dever where he said “that [he] was happy to see every aspect of [his] public ministry fail if it needed to . . . except for the preaching of God’s Word.”  This led me to reflect on the importance of preaching and how grateful I am that God brought Pastor Tim to this church and for his faithfulness in Preaching God’s word to us.

Faithful preaching isn't just a blessing to Alyssa and I, but to our children as well. Recently Walter has been able to pay more attention to the sermon, partly due to COVID and partly due to him learning to read.  Sometimes Walter asks us about something he heard in the sermon, and it is such a blessing to be able to explain that further.  Recently he heard Pastor Tim talk about a Markan sandwich, sandwiches are always interesting topics to boys, and he was able to ask Pastor Tim to explain it further. It was so good to see Tim explaining that further to Walter and the other kids.

Second being faithfully being cared for by the Elders and fellow members of the church.

Many of the other blessings that we have experienced are possible for non-members to benefit from, but there is a special responsibility that the Elders and members have for those who are members of the church. Other than Sterling Park Baptist, this is the first church where I experienced having a church covenant that is so embedded in our church life. In the church covenant we agree to ten Biblically based promises that guide us in loving one another as a church community. One of these promises is to “[exercise] affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully [admonish] one another when required.”

At times we've been encouraged by other members in our parenting.

I've been encouraged and admonished in how I interact with other believers.

This encouragement has helped us to stay focused on what is really important, and to grow in Sanctification. I’m so grateful for it.

Third, the ability to practice gifts that God has given me to serve His church.

You may think being in a small church or a church plant is just a lot of work, but its more than just work, there is a blessing in serving. One of the last lessons that Jesus gave to the disciples before being arrested, was something like a parable in action.  He knelt in front of them, and washed their feet.  Perhaps He did this to put a final stop to their arguing about who was the greatest disciple.  Perhaps they had all been so proud that none of them would condescend to do that menial and lowly task. But in any case, Jesus is showing that in tasks of service to our fellow Christian, there is no task too small.  We ought to serve gladly where God through His Word, people or Elders have directed.  Here at Winchester Baptist I have been blessed to serve in many ways both larger and smaller.

Fourth, the diversity and unity of our congregation.

This church has members from quite a number of church backgrounds.  We have some who never heard the gospel until they were adults, and we have some who have been hearing God's word faithfully explained to them as long as they can remember.  We have some members who grew up in Non-denominational Arminian churches, and some who grew up in conservative Presbyterian churches.  We have members who came from Southern Baptist churches, and members from Reformed Baptist churches. This mix is a blessing to us because it brings a number of useful perspectives, as long as we all united in agreement about the fundamentals of the gospel, and especially in the inerrancy of Scripture as the final revelation of God.

Our family has been particularly blessed by the differences in our church in a few ways, first it helps Alyssa and I to grow in our faith as we interact with other Christians who have the same fundamentals as us and love us as fellow Christians, but who think or emphasize differently than us on secondary matters.

I think this will be a particular blessing to our children as we explain to them, that though we may not agree on the secondary matters with someone else in the church, we do agree on the most important matters, and that we agree that we should turn to the word of God to explain why we believe what we believe.

Fifth,  Community Groups.

Community Groups are such a benefit to us. They help us to feel more and more like Winchester Baptist is our family, and really that is what a church should be. Several of the other things I mentioned are even more pronounced when we are regularly attending community group. We get to go even deeper as a group into God’s Word. We see even more how the diversity and unity of the congregation is a benefit to all of us. And we have a place to encourage and pray for each other.

For all these reasons Alyssa and I are thankful to be a part of Winchester Baptist Church, and we hope and pray we have many more years here.

—Caleb Bohon