3BC - Much more than a catchy motto

"Belonging, Believing, Becoming in Christ" (3BC). 

That's our church motto at Central Baptist Oakville. You will find it in our church constitution, on our worship bulletins, our pastoral staff’s business cards, our website, our Facebook page, etc. It serves as a tag line wherever we can find a place to put it. 

It’s our church motto, but it is far more than that. It also serves as our vision and process statement. “Belonging, Believing, Becoming in Christ” or 3BC proclaims to the world: “This is how we do church.” We exist and long to help people find their place, faith and calling in Christ.

Belonging: We want to help people find their place of belonging among us. If you can find your place among us, we are doing well. Jesus welcomed everyone into his presence: the lepers, the beggars, the sinners, the Roman, the Jew, the Samaritan, the tax-collector, the religious leaders, men, women, and children: Everyone! They could all find their place of belonging in Christ’s prescence. Likewise we are also constantly learning and teaching each other how to better foster “belonging” among us in Christ.

Believing: We also want to help people find their faith in Christ. Now, that is a courageous statement on our part for it means we must be willing to admit that we won’t always share the same understanding of the faith. We differ on many issues of Biblical and theological interpretation and application, but that is O.K. for you see, we are not here to teach you what to believe but to help you come to faith. Believing is a lifelong journey of exploring what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ. As I’ve often said, as a preacher my goal is to get you to struggle and interact with the Biblical text. I’m not asking for you to always agree but rather to seek discernment through the Holy Spirit.

Becoming: Finally, we long to help people find their calling - their purpose in life. Why are we here and what does God have in mind for us? What is our unique calling in Christ? Surely, it is far more than merely going to church and reciting a list of mandated beliefs. Here at Central we believe we can help people discover what being a Christian, a Christ-follower, means amidst day to day life.

And thus 3BC (Belonging, Believing, Becoming in Christ) is not a trite motto to adorn our literature, but a proclamation of the way we long to “do” and “be” the Church in Christ here in Oakville.

Reprinted from Inside Central (May 2014)