Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a syndrome within organizations called the silo effect. This is when departments in a corporation work as if they are the only part of the whole that matters. It is not hard to imagine that the product or service the company offers will suffer as a result of a lack of cooperation. These verses that start this second letter to the Corinthians are a standard greeting but the greeting says so much more about the church. Most of Paul’s letters were written to a group of house churches in that region, just as Ephesians was possibly written to be distributed to any church that could be reached.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and the saints in the whole of Achaia. This meant that there was a certain cooperation between the churches, enough that Corinth’s dirty laundry could be aired for the instruction of all the churches in the area. That is an art that has been lost in our silo effect churches, who regard other churches as competition rather than the church of God. May your church of God be able to share the triumphs and sorrows of the Christian life with other churches in 2024 and beyond. This will be evidence of grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Lord, thank you that you have called us to be together, not just in our church but in THE church. May we cooperate for Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church