People think their church is friendly because they have developed friendships with others in the church who are, of course, friendly to them. Jesus taught us that that kind of friendliness doesn’t really say much about our faith, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:32). Being a friendly church isn’t just about being friendly to your friends; it really comes down to how friendly you are to the people at church that you don’t know.
Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries, when we mix, mingle, confess and pray, Christ speaks.
Convictional leaders need to differentiate between convictions and preferences, and they often have trouble doing so. They need humility to avoid excess but are often given to pride. They need to listen as much as they talk but are often strong in the latter but weak in the former.
There are a lot of exciting things happening right now in the life of our church! Did you catch the announcement on Sunday about the launch of our Life Groups? We have eight groups meeting in various places and locations this month and I’d love to have you be a part of one.
