Jesus’ Name Not Church Fame

“We just remind ourselves of who holds it all together.”

Leon Nicotra knows what church is all about.

His church. And your church.

Leon is a pastor at GGC Life (Glorious Gospel Church) in Leichhardt, Sydney.

One of GGC Life’s values is “Jesus’ name not church fame”.

Ever seen that on a church website?

Leon told Hope Mornings that this core value is all about giving glory, credit and focus to who warrants it in any church setting.

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“If we find confidence in what we can bring, instead of God, I think it’s a repeat of the catastrophe of the Garden of Eden,” Leo said

“Colossians 1 says that in Christ, all things holds together and there’s a temptation for us in what we can bring,” Leon said.

“If we find confidence in what we can bring, instead of God, I think it’s a repeat of the catastrophe of the Garden of Eden.

“We’re looking for wisdom apart from God.

“If we can keep the main thing the main thing – Jesus, front and centre – Jesus will uncompromisingly represent us to the world.”

Leon did not call out or shame any particular church or Christian leaders for pursuing their own fame.

Instead, he encouraged all followers of Jesus to remember who it is they actually follow.

“We are not ‘church-ians’; we are Christians,” Leon said about the true identity of those in God’s kingdom.

“We can start to preach the testimony of our church.

“We forget to promote Christ to people.”

“Maybe, we have fallen into a false confidence of something we can see.

“We forget Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.”

Breaking down barriers between churches can prevent “building empires”.

To combat the problem of putting our church before the One it is founded upon, Leon encouraged individual churches to connect.

Breaking down barriers between churches can prevent “building empires”.

Christians seeking to come together across church lines would shift attention and praise back to its rightful epicentre.

“Jesus is the one who pulls us all together,” Leon said.

“In him we find our unity and in him we find our maturity.

“It is an important thing not to lose sight of that.”

Listen to the full interview with Leon Nicotra in the player above.

Feature image: Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash