Letter from the Pastor 5/13/2025
INTRODUCTION
204 people have come through the doors of Lake Wylie Baptist Church in the last three months. Around three-quarters of that number are members and their children and the rest are regular attenders and recent visitors. Those 204 people are spread over a 25 mile stretch on the southwest side of the Charlotte Metro area. Some live right down the street from our church campus, others live across the state line and over a lake.
Combine the geographic sprawl of our regular worshippers with two other factors, the pace of living in a major metropolis and the fact of abominable highway congestion and you quickly realize why building a sense of community, togetherness, and relational visibility requires extras work.
This past Sunday, I preached a sermon on the communal nature of the Christian life, that I pray was both challenging for our church as well as encouraging. I believe our church is known for several admirable qualities. The gospel (good news that God is redeeming and transforming sinners by grace through the completed work of Christ) shines in every worship gathering. The Bible governs our worship and lives. We have a robust, Christ-centered liturgy in which the congregation actively participates. Our theology is thoroughly Reformed (by that I simply mean we are shaped by the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles which was recovered during the Protestant Reformation.) We are working toward establishing a plurality of elders who lead the church. And we are missions minded, supporting several church plants through the Pillar Network, as well as others around the globe. These are all strengths we see present in our church. These may even be what originally attracted you to our church in the first place. I thank God that our church loves the gospel, the Bible, expository preaching, Reformed and Baptist theology, and gives to plant churches around the world. These are all elements of a healthy church culture, and they all come rather easily.
I believe we must admit that developing intentional community will be far more difficult and sacrificial. Hear me out. I believe our church is incredibly friendly. Visitors who have attended worship regularly comment to me that the church was welcoming. So, when I talk about community, I’m not addressing the inviting atmosphere of our Sunday worship. By community, I’m thinking about what comes after someone has visited our church 4 or 5 times. Do we have a culture of intentionally getting to know one another for the purpose of growth in the gospel, mutual support, and Christian character? By God’s grace I believe we can and will develop that culture at Lake Wylie Baptist, but first we must recognize some of the barriers to that culture.
BARRIERS TO COMMUNITY
There are two very clear barriers to developing a culture of intentional community in our church: geographic barriers and what I will call wider-cultural barriers.
Geographic Barriers
Consider where our church is located. On the one hand, there is an advantage to our location: it’s visibility. If anyone asks you where Lake Wylie Baptist is, all you have to say is, “Do you know the big waterfall at the front of the Palisades neighborhood? Our church is on that hill.” Locating our church couldn’t be easier. At the same time, our geographic location comes with real and imposing challenges.
First, even though our church is on a main artery out of Charlotte, it’s an artery that is constantly clogged with traffic. While this poses no problems for Sunday worship, it makes planning anything mid-week at the church incredibly difficult. In the past, when we have offered a mid-week gathering it has been minimally attended and I understand why. It could take some of our people up to 90 minutes to come to a midweek program depending on traffic.
Second, our members are divided into at least 8 different communities (Charlotte, Tega Cay, Fort Mill, Lake Wylie, Clover, Fort Mill, Rock Hill, and Belmont) crisscrossed by several major highways and a lake. Unless you live in the Palisades Community or Berewick, you have to navigate through one or more towns to make it to our church campus.
My family has lived in Lake Wylie for the last 9 years. For the most part, it’s a neighborhood you drive through, not to. There is no main street; no town center. The only time I ever “bump into” other members is in one of the three grocery stores. And I never get to see members in the other 7 communities unless I (as pastor) intentionally schedule coffee, lunch, or a home visit. And consider this, when I do schedule a visit with a church member, that single visit alone could take up to 1/2 of my workday depending on the nature of the visit and where I’m driving. So, if I as the pastor, who has been hired by the church struggle to be connected to members in such a sprawling suburban jungle, how much more will that sprawl present challenges for the church?
We must admit the difficulty presented by geographic barriers to community and adapt our church culture to minister within this context.
Wider-Cultural Barriers
By “wider-cultural barriers” I am referring to the pace of life here in Charlotte. We may not be a busy as LA or NYC, but Charlotte is a mega metropolis. People do not move to this city in order to find deep relationships. They move here for work. And, in many cases, they quickly move to other cities for work as well. As I mentioned in the sermon this past Sunday, modern communities are more transactional rather than sacrificial in nature. We have a smorgasbord of “social networks,” and less meaningful friendships than ever as a culture. These networks give us a false sense of being “friends” with everyone when in reality we might be friends with no one.
Unfortunately, the church has not been unaffected by wider-cultural barriers. Too often, community and relationships within the church have been boiled down to a program like Sunday School or small groups. I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with either of those ministries. Our church runs a Sunday School program, and we are encouraging members to forms home groups in the various communities where our church lives. Hear me out—if you desire to start a home group, I will help you do it! But the church needs more than a program for community, we need a culture of community that forms relationships and friendships whether we have a program or not. The Christian life is intrinsically relational and being a disciple of Jesus means intentionally orienting ourselves to others for their spiritual good.
CONCLUSION
Today I’ve addressed the challenge: growing and maintaining a culture of intentional community in our church. I’ve addressed what I see as two of the primary barriers to that goal. Next week, I will be writing a letter that is far more positive and constructive in approach.
Our church staff is currently working to organize and administrate the ministry in such a way that makes intentional community more clear as a goal for our church and provides clear pathways for guests and visitors alike to connect with one another.
But ultimately, intentional community relies on the involvement of the entire congregation. Every member of our church carries a responsibility to contribute to the overall culture of hospitality and community we need in order to minister effectively. Those contributions will be unique to us as individuals, but all will be necessary.
The Apostle Paul reminds us to, “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” May God grant us the grace to live out this commission.