The Place to Be #40

Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 

As we think about the Church being the "Place to Be" - the place it ought to be, all of Paul's letters to the churches contain some helpful information -positive and/or negative - for principles of doing church right. Here in Philippians, we find hints to that in the opening words: Paul and Timothy were writing this together, and Timothy was Paul's right hand man when it came to working out problems in congregations. They address their letter to "the saints... with the overseers and deacons," another sign of how they were to view themselves in the church and as a church. Then, in their opening prayer of thanksgiving, they speak of their "partnership in the gospel," as well as God completing the good work He had begun in them as a church.  Paul and Timothy wrote to encourage them on as a church, commending what was going well, yet helping them see ways to do things better, to remain The Place to Be.