Welcome to CMFI - Maryland.
We hope that you will join us to worship, praise and give thanks to the Father,
Son and the Holy Spirit.We believe that the Bible is God’s holy and inspired word and
we take seriously the mandate issued by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations,
which includes the United States of America.
Of course, almost every church in this land will invite you to worship with them,
hold up the Bible as truth and proclaim to be disciples of Jesus Christ who are actively
involved in the business of evangelizing. For some churches this description might be accurate.
With reference to specific church affiliation, however, the questions you should prayerfully be
considering are whether by aligning with CMFI - Maryland, “will you be challenged to come to know
Jesus Christ on a more intimate level and will you discover His purpose for your life?”
Ultimately, the answers to those prayers must come from the Lord.
In the meantime, I will share with you some personal thoughts and observations about
CMFI - Maryland, that you might want to consider. The Lord regularly manifests Himself
in our midst through the nine spiritual gifts set forth in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.
Those nine gifts can be literally translated as:
- - A word of wisdom
- - A word of knowledge
- - Faith
- - Gifts of healings
- - Working of miracles
- - Prophecy
- - Discerning of spirits
- - Kinds of tongues
- - Interpretation of tongues
These gifts are “for the profit of all” and through them we seek to minister to one another
as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We seek to cultivate a sensitivity
to the Holy Spirit which makes room for Him to move as and when He wills. If you join us you will
soon notice that these spiritual gifts often operate through various members of the assembly and
not just the designated leaders.
The spiritual gifts provided by the Lord are tools which are intended to build up His church and
its members in the practical setting and issues of this present life. Churches that suppress the
operation of spiritual gifts (and there are many such churches regardless of denominational affiliation)
are not fully following the teachings of Jesus Christ and are depriving their members of the very tools
which are needed by the born again believer to successfully wage spiritual warfare.
You have probably discovered on your own that being “born again” brings with it
the realization that you are caught up in a war where the Kingdom of God is opposed by
a satanic kingdom. We believe that God has called each of us to actively engage in this spiritual war.
We further recognize that God will lead us in many battles which will penetrate the camp of the enemy
so that the souls of men and women can be rescued from the forces of darkness. We are not relying upon
our natural strength for these battles. Instead, we rely upon the strength and provision of our
Lord Jesus Christ as He moves among us to accomplish His will in our lives, in this time and place.
Spiritual warfare is not for the timid. If you want to join this band of warriors we welcome you,
however, you may need to free yourself from some of the traditional ideas of how churches are
supposed to behave and be governed. There is another, equally important, dimension of
CMFI - Maryland which I started to recognize shortly after joining the church.
Today, I describe this dimension as the “fruit of the Spirit.”
As I started to meet and get to know various members of the church on a more personal level,
I could see some real fruit of the Spirit operating in their lives.
The apostle Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23).
Naturally, the fruit of the Spirit is a “work-in-progress” for each of us which must be carefully
cultivated over our lifetime. It is the fruit of the Spirit which reveals our own character
and the character of Jesus. We hope that you will notice genuine spiritual fruit being
produced in our lives or, if not, that you will still choose to join us in order to
strengthen us and help us develop the type of character that is pleasing to God.
If you visit our church you will immediately notice that we have people from different races,
backgrounds and countries serving together in the Lord. We are diverse in some ways, however,
we share a common bond in Christ and we have committed ourselves to walk in fellowship with one
another to accomplish the goals of our King. We are mindful that many of our spiritual ancestors
have gone before us and accomplished the tasks set before them by the Lord during their lifetimes.
They are now watching to see if we will be faithful in our time. As the author of Hebrews points out in chapter 12.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes
on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith…
Visit us online or in person. Seek the Lord and find out whether He will have you join
this band of believers who are committed to this spiritual war.
Stirring up His joy,
