Ten Verses That Shaped Our Church

Every family has its sayings — the sentences repeated at every table until the children roll their eyes and the grandchildren quote them back. Churches are the same. After thirty-five years, our life together keeps circling back to ten passages of Scripture. Here they are, with the moments that made them ours.

The founding five

Luke 10:25–37. The Good Samaritan, read at our very first farmhouse gathering in 1991 — and at almost every vision Sunday since. Mercy first, questions later.

Matthew 11:28–30. “Come to me, all who are weary.” These words hang over the door of the Little Chapel, greeting every Wednesday-night arrival.

Acts 2:42–47. The blueprint for Common Ground Groups: teaching, fellowship, bread, prayer — and glad, generous hearts.

“A church doesn't need a hundred verses. It needs ten it actually lives.”

Psalm 23. Read at more Hawkridge funerals than any other passage — and at the dedication of the Sanctuary in 1994. The Lord is our shepherd, in the building years and the burying years alike.

Micah 6:8. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly. The verse behind the City Table Pantry: when the hall opened in 2008, it was printed on the first twelve food parcels.

The growing five

John 15:1–8. Abide in the vine. Our reminder in every busy season that fruit comes from remaining, not striving.

Ephesians 3:20–21. “Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Prayed over the Fellowship Hall extension, over the youth camp, over every impossible budget line.

Philippians 1:6. He who began a good work will carry it on. The verse for every baptism, every new member, every nervous first sermon from a young preacher.

Revelation 21:1–5. “Behold, I am making all things new.” Read every Easter morning as the sun comes through the east window — our ending, and our beginning.

Which verse has shaped your story? Tell us on a Sunday — or better, bring it to a Common Ground Group this week and watch it shape someone else's.