Engaging and Connecting people in the church and the church in the community
This fall, we have been trying to identify and discuss the various qualities that are supposed to be distinctive of a healthy church. I have been struck by three things along the way:
First, we are just scratching the surface with the things we have addressed. There are so many qualities that should make up the substance of our relationships in the church. At the top of the list must be the need to love and our need to be loved. All the other qualities are probably subservient to love, but are never the less as essential as love is unfolded into the real stuff of life, in every corner of our worlds.
Second, living out these qualities is not easy. Sometimes I think that it should be so natural to exhibit these things with one another. Patience is a no brainer… right? Kindness is an obvious quality we should live out. In the unfortunate times when we have conflict, it seems logical that we would move quickly and honestly toward resolution. Listening to one another twice as much as talking at one another seems reasonable since we have twice as many ears as we have tongues. So why is it so difficult to live out these qualities?
Third, we have a desperate need for God to transform and empower us into being the kind of people who build a welcoming church home, rather than tear it apart. Thank God that He thought it wise and effective to send the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us to live the lives He has designed for us. There is no way we can be what what produces a warm and welcoming church without God being at the center of everything.
We have a few weeks left before we shift our focus toward Christmas. In these next three weeks, let’s take a serious look at our church and ourselves so that God’s Spirit can enliven us to be a place where people clearly hear, “WELCOME HOME”!!!!!!