Each day when I drive home I witness the world of community development. There, before my very eyes, vast acres of farmland are being transformed into residential lots. Ground is undergoing excavation. Foundations are being poured. Skilled carpenters are framing walls. Plumbers are laying pipe. Electricians are connecting wires. Painters are splashing color on drywall. Over the course of a few months, what was once an idea will become brick and mortar. What was once a blue print will become a country blue home with a steep gable. Soon a family will move into the neighborhood, plant some shrubs and go for a walk around the block.

Chances are, I'll meet the neighbors on their way around. It is less likely that I'll meet the many persons who have built up my immediate environment – the streets of Panther Drive and Koala Court and Rain Forest Road. For the residents of our subdivision, this ambitious project has involved unknown landowners, developers, inspectors, contractors and the city planning and zoning commission. It is these unknown men and women who have designed the parks, enforced the safety codes and established the vocabulary of street names.

You and I are going about a similar work in planting a new church. Mysteriously, we are both the work and the workers in Jesus' grand neighborhood project of building his church (Matthew 16:18). We are the work as God is working on us and in us. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus:

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit" (2:19-22). God is the great stone mason cutting away the rough edges of our lives so that we fit together in this church where His Spirit dwells. He is chiseling His name in us, calling this place of body and soul "the temple of God".

We are also the workers as God is working through us and by us. Together, you and I are looking at holy blue prints, envisioning possibilities and strategizing for healthy congregational growth. We are mapping out a life of faithfulness (Hebrews 11). We are striving to build a house of worship, hoping to build a community where life is livable. There will be obstacles to the work (Nehemiah). There will be hardships and disappointments (2 Corinthians 6:4). There will be on the job injuries and lost-time accidents (2 Timothy 4:10). But there will also be victories and successes as lives are changed one day at a time, one week at a time. Homes will be built up on the foundation of the Lord (Psalm 127). Young children will learn the vocabulary of faith. Future generations will learn to put their confidence in God (Psalm 78:6-7).

Will you help me in sprucing up the place a bit? Let's throw out the welcome wagon for visitors. Let's plan a neighborhood block party to get to know one another better. Let's plant towering oaks of righteousness through a commitment to covenantal parenting and Christian education. Let's groom the lawn with bright flowers and shrubs by learning to worship God in vigorous, reverent praise. Let's keep the neighborhood safe by protecting the needy among us.

The work we do is not only for us. It is not only for our children. It is for countless others still to come, whose faces we will never see and whose voices we will never hear.