Because the physical church on earth is made up of volunteers from the human race, a broken and limited group, most of us have had something less than pleasant experiences happen at a church. The longer we have attended the more often this happens. Because of this limited capacity, if we attend a church with the smallest expectation, it is unlikely to be met in any good way because people come to church when they are ill or someone they love is dying or their marriage is broken or their kids are struggling or their debt is drowning them and so often people in church are just not at their best. For some reason, we expect to find in church buildings or church attendees help and hope and wisdom laid out on a banquet table.
In fact, we are all struggling to understand what God is saying to us, what we are called to do, what we aught to believe. We may be at different points along the path. And I certainly don't recommend a church that has no baby Christians, no seekers of truth, no broken hearts looking for hope, because if a church is full of people who profess to "have it all together" then how will they have any faith, hope or experience that can shine light on my little broken self?
No, the best part of a church is that we can gather together to learn from one another, to love and be loved, to grow and humbly teach, to encourage one another and be a place of refuge when the temptations of the world would lure us into complacence.
So, if you don't have a church home or if your church is not a home, then prayerfully seek a place where you can be part of a community that has each other's back, speaks truth to nonsense and are learning to trust God radically no matter the challenge of the day.
Ecclesiastics 4:12: An enemy might be able to defeat one person, but two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together—it is very hard to break.
In fact, we are all struggling to understand what God is saying to us, what we are called to do, what we aught to believe. We may be at different points along the path. And I certainly don't recommend a church that has no baby Christians, no seekers of truth, no broken hearts looking for hope, because if a church is full of people who profess to "have it all together" then how will they have any faith, hope or experience that can shine light on my little broken self?
No, the best part of a church is that we can gather together to learn from one another, to love and be loved, to grow and humbly teach, to encourage one another and be a place of refuge when the temptations of the world would lure us into complacence.
So, if you don't have a church home or if your church is not a home, then prayerfully seek a place where you can be part of a community that has each other's back, speaks truth to nonsense and are learning to trust God radically no matter the challenge of the day.
Ecclesiastics 4:12: An enemy might be able to defeat one person, but two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together—it is very hard to break.
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