Our neighbors across the street, the Johnson’s, have two dogs. Both are about the size of my two month old son. But I think my son could take them. Have you seen him lately? He is a tank. Like a tiny Michelin man. Well, Ken and Renee Johnson are almost done building a fence in their backyard so that they can let the dogs out back without chaining them up. This fence project got grouped in with a garden project, a patio project, a small deck project, a sitting wall project, and a triple-bypass open heart surgery project. The heart surgery thing was a surprise. Most projects come with their fare share of small surprises, but open heart surgery is no small surprise. A small surprise would be finding a ten dollar bill in your jacket pocket, or getting 20% more shampoo for free, or finding a mechanical pencil with an eraser that’s bigger than the size of a large ant that you can use more than 2 times without it falling out and basically ruining the worthiness of the pencil altogether. Heart surgery is a big surprise. And one of the things that you are supposed to avoid when you are in need of heart surgery is… stress. And one of the things that automatically comes with multiple projects at the same time is… stress. Not a heart-healthy combination huh? So in the wake of Ken’s surgery he attempted to assemble a crew of workers to finish all the projects, which have a tight deadline due to some events happening later this summer (i.e. his son’s wedding). Over the last three weeks he was able to band together multiple laborers from several different walks of life. Ken was intent on getting laborers from different churches, different communities, different streets to join in the work together. There were 6 laborers from my church, 3 laborers from our small group study, 2 laborers from Ken’s daughters circle of friends, 3 laborers from our street, 2 laborers from my circle of friends, and Ken’s three sons. That is a small battalion of laborers all combined to work towards the same goal. Each laborer came when he/she could and spent time working in Ken and Renee’s backyard. Ken wanted to combine communities and churches and lives in his backyard. I was encouraged by the underlying purpose in this. It was to promote community and love between people whose paths would not have crossed had it not been for his failing arteries. He desperately needed the help too, otherwise his backyard would still look like Home Depot’s outdoor projects section with piles of stone, wood, dirt, and bricks. Just a bunch of piles, with nothing to show for it.

The foundation of the Johnson Project, as I will call it from now on, is very profound. I was reminded of that foundation this morning during my weekly Tuesday morning coffee meeting my old college roommates. The foundation of the Johnson Project is from Philippians 1:3 when the Apostle Paul says:

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Ken Johnson had created a partnership in his backyard. And his goal was to mix people together with the purpose of co-laboring together. Not to work at odds or to work separately, but to mingle together and blend communities. This is similar to the work that church communities should be doing. I have the privilege of staying close with my college roommates. We have a strong friendship bond that goes deep. But, we all attend separate churches. The four of us all currently live within a 5 mile radius of each other in Cuyahoga Falls, but we all belong to a different church community. We are all fully invested into each of our communities. And on Tuesday mornings we converge on Starbucks to chat over grande coffees. This morning Jarrod mentioned that we are co-laborers for the gospel despite the fact of where our tithes go. He encouraged me through this scripture passage from Philippians and by offering up himself in anyway needed for my church. And I did the same for him. We are partners for the same gospel, the same God, the same Savior. And we don’t want to miss out on feeding off of each other and providing support for each other whether it be encouragement or insight, a service project, prayer, a time commitment, or even a financial need. Church communities should be networking more and uniting together for the sake of Christ. The “unchurched” (and even some “churched” people) often see churches as separate entities, at odds, working against each other, even competing in some ways. What does that say about the gospel? What would Paul say in a letter that he would write to the churches of Northeast Ohio? Would he be exhorting or rebuking? We need to pray more for the churches down the street – the churches you pass by in your car, reading the marquee sign out front with the awkward message – or the large church you pass by with massive children’s ministry. There is a person who faithfully goes out each week and changes that marquee sign. He/She is your partner in the gospel. There are volunteers that sacrifice time and money to serve the hundreds of kids in the massive children’s ministry. They are your partners in the gospel. Don’t pass by a church without praying for them. Don’t dismiss the efforts of other churches as petty or out-dated. Pray with joy that they are partnering in the gospel with you and be confident in the work that Christ is completing there.

The gospel has come to you on it’s way to someone else. And that responsibility is true for all churches. So, co-labor, combine, mingle, unite, merge, and partner with each other. The Johnson Project was successful. Ken had a vision for what it was going to look like. And he was confident that God would work in the midst of his ailing heart and ailing backyard – to the glory and praise of God. He realized that we are all partners in the gospel. Paul prayed for the church in Philippi, his partners in the gospel, and this was his prayer (Phil 1:9-11): that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.