Faithfully Serving and Living Life Together
Sunday Member Testimony
As we continue our Church Membership Month we asked Bobby and Alie—two members of our church—to tell us how being a part of the church has shown them the importance of the ordinary. Read what they had to say below.
Bobby:
Good morning church. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Bobby Westphal, and this is my wife Alie. We have been attending Sovereign Grace for 7 years now.
Today, we were asked to share what being an ordinary church member looks like in our lives.
As I sat with this question, I remembered a session of one of my classes in college. The class was Christian Life, Faith, and Ministry, and we were reading through a portion of Acts. The passage is probably familiar. Acts 2:42-47 says:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Reading through this passage and discussing it in class gave me anxiety. I’m a classic introvert. I’m somebody who maybe (probably) values security too much. I like to make sure I can do something before I try to do it. The idea of stepping forward in radical community, selling possessions, and leaving my idea of “normal” filled me with dread, not awe at the power of God’s work in His people.
Being a part of the community of Sovereign Grace has shown me what this passage is really about. In our time here, we have seen how God uses the ordinary, everyday lives of his people to do his extraordinary work. Over the years, we have seen church members routinely open their homes to each other for a meal, small groups check in and pray for each other, been blessed by meal trains when both of our kids were born, Alie has participated in clothing swaps, and we’ve seen incredible financial generosity when members have experienced hardships.
One recent example that sticks out was when our daughter Sage was born, Christy Sohie and Kristen Smetona set up a meal train for us. The slots were all quickly filled, which was a huge blessing. After that though, we had 2 or 3 families reach out to us personally and say they weren’t fast enough to get a spot and wanted to bring us food. Members of the church were going above and beyond to bless us in our time of transition.
Alie:
When we were asked to speak today, I was so excited because recently, Ordinary has become my favorite word to describe our church. While our world seems so infatuated with the extraordinary, our church lives in the ordinary.
Growing up, I spent the entirety of my adolescence and the beginnings of adulthood going from church to church, always inwardly evaluating what made each church stand out: excellent music, engaging preaching, really the big moments. Sovereign grace was different. It was simple. But immediately, I saw the church full of people faithfully gathering, serving, worshipping, and caring for one another. We were quickly drawn into small group, offered invitations for dinners, and were cared for.
These places are where we get to see God working day to day. God’s grace is evident in the ordinary moments- a friend sending an encouraging text, a mom inviting kids over for play groups, or members making dinner for one another. There is nothing extravagant about these moments. But they are the moments the Lord most often uses, because our lives are made up of mostly ordinary moments.
We see this in church members faithfully showing up week after to week to worship together on Sundays. We see this in small groups gathering to pray for one another and live the ups and downs of life together. We see this in members meeting together to study the Bible, read good books, and offer each other encouragement. We see this in members helping one another through moves, bringing meals, childcare, and countless other ways.
Our time at Sovereign Grace has been marked with highs and lows. But as I think back to moments that stand out to me as examples of our church faithfully serving one another, those moments are ordinary ones. Whether it was fellow church members turning into close friends over dinner, a friend offering an understanding look and a hug on a hard Sunday morning, or good conversations at a women’s study, we have been so blessed by our ordinary church.