Front Porch Thoughts on a Sunny September Afternoon

Hubs and I just returned from a trip out West with 8 of our friends, 7 of them from the Bible study group Hubs has led for over six years.  The 10 of us were looking forward to the trip so much.  We went to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, places some had visited previously but which some on our trip had not.  It was a great trip.  We enjoyed seeing our friends enjoy the first-time wonders of these beautiful parts of our country. 

This is not the “focus” of this post however, if you’ll pardon the pun.

This post is about “church”.

Now, I’ve been involved in congregations since the time I was a lima bean in the womb.  So, I’ve had several decades of experience.  And, while I can’t say I’ve “seen it all”, I’ve seen a lot.  With that in mind, here are some ponderings.

What IS a “church”, after all?  Well, “church” is a mostly-Christian word, which is used to designate a group of people who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, as God’s physical manifestation on earth to mankind.  Usually, these people are united by a creed, that is, a set of beliefs about the Bible.

These people meet, usually regularly, to advance the message Jesus put forth, His salvation message, the gospel message.  They also meet to study the Bible.  They often, too, reach out to the community, to extend aid to those in need.  All three of these functions are important, although from congregation to congregation, you will find a greater emphasis placed on one or more, rather than the other(s).

In the truly great churches, you will also find this other component:  the congregants truly care for one another, and they put mechanisms in place to facilitate that type of care for one another.  A truly great church is a highly organized church, in that they set themselves up in advance to pro-actively care for each other.  This is key, no matter the size of your church, but especially if you have a large or growing church.

Here’s an example from our church.  Whereas most churches have “Sunday classes” in addition to the morning worship service, ours encourages small groups to meet during the week.  This stemmed from the first seven years of our church’s existence, when we did not have a building to meet in …

Our small group, which I referenced at the beginning of this post, began to meet over six years ago.  Over the years we have lost a couple or two, but we have also gained several.  At moment, what began as a group of about 8-10 now is at 24:  11 couples and two singles.  That’s plenty big enough.  In fact, when we started our church, our pastor told us to form a new group at 22.  Wise words.  Any bigger, and you just can’t care for one another effectively.

We meet weekly on Wednesday nights in each other’s homes.  The host home provides an entree and usually beverages.  The rest of us bring sides/desserts, etc.  We start at 6:30 with dinner and then have Bible study afterwards and a time of prayer to end.  We try to finish up by 9:30.  This would not be a workable model for everyone, but it works for our group.  (We don’t have childcare issues, etc.) It’s a commitment and it’s an effort, some weeks, to pull off.  It’s sacrificial, no doubt.

But, here’s the kicker.  Here is the pot of gold.

We have cared for each other through:  loss of parent, spousal abandonment, loss of spouse to death, loss of child, marriage of children, children’s errant ways, nearly life-ending accidents, dementia, cancer, surgeries, career moves, car problems, loss of pets, disagreements (yes, we have had a few of those too) and more.  We have as a group “borne one another’s burdens and so fulfilled the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

More about our group and our recent trip:  three of us fell (two separate incidents), one threw up, three more got sick with the flu, one lost her handbag temporarily, but in all these trials we helped each other.  We “caught” each other.  We said, “God’s got you and we’ve got you.”  We brought food and meds to the quarantined (what I nicknamed “the leper colony”); we got our hands dirty.  We lifted each other up in prayer and in so many other ways.  We made allowances for each other.  And, in the midst of all this, we ate together, laughed so very much, celebrated a wedding anniversary on the trip, remembered loved ones gone on, made S’mores around the fire pit, listened to wolves howl, saw bison fighting for females, watched in wonder as the earth threatened to absolutely split its skin and spill molten lava everywhere….it was an amazing experience, made a tribute to our Lord and King by how we handled the “bumps in the road”.  Had we not had the bond we all have, these disruptions could have been so much more difficult to bear.

Those who could not go? Well, they were standing at the ready to help the sick among us, after we returned.

And, that is church, really - - caring for each other and being the hands and feet of Jesus to each other in the midst of life’s ups and downs.  Walking the walk of holiness, together.  If you don’t have this, well, you may have something, but I will boldly say you do not have a church, in the biblical sense.

I have joined churches and left churches for a variety of reasons, but other than relocation, the only reasons I have left have been these two:

1.  How the Bible was treated/preached/taught (Truth)

2.  How people were cared for (Love)

I heard three outstanding pieces of wisdom over the years about church and here they are:

1.  People don’t care how much you know (biblical teaching, doctrine, etc.) until they know how much you care.

2.  People want to go to church with their friends.

Indisputably true.

The best gift of this recent trip was how God allowed us to see what He has done IN us, for His glory.  What a blessing!

But, I said “three”, didn’t I?  Here’s the last one.

3.  “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love….”  https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bL5bT_Ezeq8&si=eahURZHeS4Kn1nkc