For the uninitiated, the Palace Beautiful is one of the places described in John Bunyan’s “A Pilgrim’s Progress” where some of the pilgrims stop to rest and are greatly refreshed. Not all stop here, for not all are called to be members of every church that God has established. Yet there are some times in our Christian walk when we are privileged to stop for a time at such a gathering of believers and to be refreshed and re-envisioned once more. It was my privilege to stop at just such a Palace Beautiful whilst in Washington D.C.
Capitol Hill Baptist Church was not always such an encouraging God focussed Church and sin being what it is amongst us humans it may not remain such a place till Christ’s return. But for now, at least for the time that I was there, God made it such a respite for my tired Christian heart that I can have nothing but praise for Him who has made such a gathering for me and others to be so nurtured and spurred on in our Christian walk.
I was there from Thursday afternoon through to Monday morning, visiting with 100 other ministers for a “Weekender” (essentially a guided tour and a fly-on-the-wall view of an 800+ member Church in action). During this time I was billeted at a member’s home and then together with the other ministers attended closed pastoral & member’s meetings, open Church services & teaching seminars, specialised exposés of the inner workings of the staff and life of the Church, and had countless hours and opportunities to question them on what they do, why they do it, and what are the results. During this time the staff and members of CHBC showered us with food, books and Christian hospitality. Their desire was to comfort and bless other Churches with what God has comforted and blessed them (2 Cor 1:4), to urge us to follow them only in-so-far-as they are following Christ (1 Cor 11:1) and asked our forgiveness and patience for all errors we might find along the way.
In all my experience as a Christian I have never yet been amongst such a large group of Christians who were seeking so transparently, earnestly, humbly & honestly to follow Christ in unity together. I commented on this to one of the leaders at the end of the 5 days, adding that I had expected such good Christian behaviour from the leadership, but that I had seen it amongst the body of believers where ever I went. Firstly he was greatly surprised by my report for he knows his own sin and the sin of many others. Second, his response was a tearful request for me to pray for them, for if this is indeed true in any measure at all, then it needs to continue and to deepen and they must never stop striving to live to the praise of God and that they must remain teachable for all errors that are present now and will arise later. Such a heartfelt humble response is proof of the pudding. Strive to live for God’s glory and a holy & godly life will be the result. And when a whole Church full of people are transparently helping each other to do it together … then a holy & godly Church is the result.
Not only was I amazed by such an experience of God’s grace in his Church, I was spurred on to continue my own place in that same race – not to try and remain there at this Palace Beautiful called CHBC – but to take all I have learned and then strive longer to make God’s palace in Shellharbour City beautiful also, beginning with me and my own family; with God as my helper.
And what did I learn through all this? Actually nothing new at all in terms of technique or professional churchmanship, rather I was reminded that the right things done the right way over a long period of time are still right, irrelevant of how hard it feels or what results are seen. This dovetails well with a comment that impacted me, which came from one of the older members, “A young man always overestimates what can be achieved in a short period of time and underestimates what can be achieved over a long period.” Godly perseverance is the order of the day leaving the results to Him who is over all and through all in all.
To God be the glory for all he has shown me at this palace beautiful.
Michael
Capitol Hill Baptist Church was not always such an encouraging God focussed Church and sin being what it is amongst us humans it may not remain such a place till Christ’s return. But for now, at least for the time that I was there, God made it such a respite for my tired Christian heart that I can have nothing but praise for Him who has made such a gathering for me and others to be so nurtured and spurred on in our Christian walk.
I was there from Thursday afternoon through to Monday morning, visiting with 100 other ministers for a “Weekender” (essentially a guided tour and a fly-on-the-wall view of an 800+ member Church in action). During this time I was billeted at a member’s home and then together with the other ministers attended closed pastoral & member’s meetings, open Church services & teaching seminars, specialised exposés of the inner workings of the staff and life of the Church, and had countless hours and opportunities to question them on what they do, why they do it, and what are the results. During this time the staff and members of CHBC showered us with food, books and Christian hospitality. Their desire was to comfort and bless other Churches with what God has comforted and blessed them (2 Cor 1:4), to urge us to follow them only in-so-far-as they are following Christ (1 Cor 11:1) and asked our forgiveness and patience for all errors we might find along the way.
In all my experience as a Christian I have never yet been amongst such a large group of Christians who were seeking so transparently, earnestly, humbly & honestly to follow Christ in unity together. I commented on this to one of the leaders at the end of the 5 days, adding that I had expected such good Christian behaviour from the leadership, but that I had seen it amongst the body of believers where ever I went. Firstly he was greatly surprised by my report for he knows his own sin and the sin of many others. Second, his response was a tearful request for me to pray for them, for if this is indeed true in any measure at all, then it needs to continue and to deepen and they must never stop striving to live to the praise of God and that they must remain teachable for all errors that are present now and will arise later. Such a heartfelt humble response is proof of the pudding. Strive to live for God’s glory and a holy & godly life will be the result. And when a whole Church full of people are transparently helping each other to do it together … then a holy & godly Church is the result.
Not only was I amazed by such an experience of God’s grace in his Church, I was spurred on to continue my own place in that same race – not to try and remain there at this Palace Beautiful called CHBC – but to take all I have learned and then strive longer to make God’s palace in Shellharbour City beautiful also, beginning with me and my own family; with God as my helper.
And what did I learn through all this? Actually nothing new at all in terms of technique or professional churchmanship, rather I was reminded that the right things done the right way over a long period of time are still right, irrelevant of how hard it feels or what results are seen. This dovetails well with a comment that impacted me, which came from one of the older members, “A young man always overestimates what can be achieved in a short period of time and underestimates what can be achieved over a long period.” Godly perseverance is the order of the day leaving the results to Him who is over all and through all in all.
To God be the glory for all he has shown me at this palace beautiful.
Michael
What an encouraging, uplifting post.
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