I preached through an interesting passage this past week and it was the part where Jesus asks, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Here Jesus says that the blood that runs through our veins (Jewish blood at the time!) is not what defines the true people of God anymore; no, the blood of Jesus is what unites the people of God. In other words, the called-out gathered and scattered ones (read: Church) are on the same team.

It just so happens that at the Pumpkin Festival Parade only minutes after preaching this sermon, I had two separate conversations with two very different people from two very different churches that entailed the same remark from both.

“Oh, you’re our competition,” they said to me, having been informed of where I pastor.

Competition.

I thought to myself, That’s a funny word to use to describe our church and what we are doing while simultaneously juxtaposing the apparent warring ideologies that simply do not exist.

But alas, this is what humans do. We divide and fail to look at the greater, much larger canvas that God is painting for this world. Instead of one resounding symphony echoing through our region as one united people of God, we compete like a bunch of Natural Selection Darwinists (pun intended).

Competition is no longer an option for the Church. We must kill it, and do so quickly. There’s a world waiting to hear the joyful tidings of King Jesus and his salvation.