9 Things I Appreciate About Classis

9 Reasons Why I Appreciate Classis

Call me silly.  But I DO appreciate classis.  Here are a few reasons why:

1. It’s a place where worship, prayer, accountability, encouragement, and decision making can happen -- among people who know and care for each other.
2. It’s local enough to avoid the cumbersome dynamics of denomination, and regional enough to avoid the perils of isolation and independence of congregations acting alone.
3. It has both longevity of relationships and the possibility of a healthy rotation of leadership.
4. It’s nicely in the middle between a bi-national denominational structure with all the organizational density on the one hand, and a narrowly local and parochial outlook on the other hand.  
5. It can nurture cooperation and collaboration among people with a balance of common interests, common experiences, and common ministry concerns with fine tuned geographical focus.
6. It meets often enough to nurture lasting relationships, but infrequently enough to avoid becoming deadly routine.
7. It’s a forum in which congregations can truly know and be known, love and be loved, serve and be served.  
8. It’s big enough to be genuinely diverse, yet local enough to nurture genuine relationships that cross differences.  
9. Its purpose is to strengthen Christ’s Body.  What a great reason to exist!

Your turn!   Want to add a few?  Or maybe your list is more like, “things I wish were different at classis”.  Whatever, I’d love to hear from you!