We are family!

“Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation.”  C.H. Spurgeon

  If you’ve been a Christian for very long, you know that one of the most common questions when seeking to ascertain someone’s relationship with Jesus Christ is: “Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” What’s so noteworthy about that question is that if you search the pages of Scripture, you’ll never find that expression “personal.” Our radical overemphasis on a “personal” relationship with God is a very American yet not a biblical or theological construct. Instead, what we find in the Bible is a God Who is at least as concerned with His group (me/you in relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ) as He is with the individual (me in relationship with God). Yet, American churchianity has been shaped by a worldview diametrically opposed to the teaching of Scripture and the outlook of those early Christians. American Christians have been taught to believe that my individual fulfillment and my personal relationship with God is far more important than any connection I might have with brothers and sisters in Christ. We become oblivious to biblical truths like “Jesus died for His Church” (Ephesians 5:25) and also forget that ultimately all Christians will spend eternity in heaven together.

  In our naïveté American believers, have in very subtle ways, been conformed to this world. Yet, there’s great hope for Spirit led transformation. God’s vision for community, for spiritual family, as reflected in the lives of those early Christians, offers a powerful antidote to the relational ills that so often characterize the lives of contemporary evangelicals. It’s essential that we grow and mature in a biblical understanding that a local church, our local church, is a family.

  It’s encouraging to see this beginning to take place within our church in places like our 50+ group, women’s ministry and their recent “Garden Getaway,” our quilting class. Even our recent men’s fishing outing helped us gain new ground in our understanding that our church is a family. Our Sunday Morning Live classes and other small groups continually help us gain ground in this area. Even teams who serve in a ministry together like our worship team or midweek ministries increase our understanding of church as a family. God has so much more joy and fulfillment for us when we understand that our church is a family.

  Yet, for most of us, this is so foreign that we’re going to have to immerse ourselves in the study of church as a family to begin to grasp it. Even when we’re part of the church as a family, we may not even be aware of it. We’re rarely purposeful when we’re part of the church as a family. In other words, we’re part of it, yet often don’t even realize that we’re part of it.

  With this in mind, please join us in our summer reading of Randy Frazee’s, The Connecting Church. A New Testament understanding of the church as a family is so foreign to us that it’s going to take both prayer and a study of God’s Word to begin to reprogram our misconceptions of New Testament Christianity. Add to that, the book is a mere $12, not much more than a McDonald’s lunch. The book is written in a conversational style, and though thought provoking, it’s not some dry theological tome. It will challenge you and stretch you so that you have a greater understanding of what the Bible teaches about what it means to be part of a spiritual family.

  Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. It’s easier to create opportunities for fellowship when the weather is warmer. Fellowship is a planned investment. While it’s going to mean a shift in our thinking, schedule and priorities, you’ll find that the investment is well worth it. Much of it can be done in the midst of the normal stuff of life.

  For example, if a lady is headed to Milwaukee or Chicago to shop, ask another lady or several other ladies from church to go along. Include a stop at a coffee shop or perhaps a place for lunch in the trip. Maybe you’re dropping someone off at the airport, why ride alone?

  Determine to stretch out of your normal and safe social circles. Ask someone to go along who you don’t normally spend time with. Maybe someone you hardly know. Perhaps even someone that grates on you a bit. Stretch out of your world. For example, if you’re older, ask someone younger. If you have kids, ask someone who’s single to come along. If you have older children, ask someone with small children. Spiritual family and growth is not about playing it safe or being stuck in the familiar.  

  Here are some other areas that you might consider. If you’re a walker, runner, biker, golfer, motorcyclist, ask someone else to join you. Do you have love bonfires, going to the beach, having a picnic? Then, ask another family or two to come along. If you’re headed to a Brewers game (even a Cubs game), invite someone else. Even if you’re headed to watch your child play ball, ask someone to tag along. Your child will appreciate the extra cheering section. Stop at a local ice cream place afterwards.

  Do you love to go to garage sales? Find a friend to join you. It could be an extra bonus if they happen to own a truck or large van J. Have a theme party or invite others to join you at a unique restaurant. Maybe find someone who needs an extra hand, perhaps an elderly person or someone who’s been in the hospital recently, with some yard work. Invite another family to join you. Then, share a meal together afterwards. Even just go see an older person and spend some time with them.

  Ask someone to help you with a project. Jane and I have some lifelong friends in Detroit, Russ and Linda Johns. Our friendship was born one Saturday when they asked me to help them wash some walls.

  Fellowship and growth though require that you must change it up. If you hang with the group you always hang with, you’re never going to grow in a biblical understanding of fellowship or stretch spiritually. Sadly, you’re more likely to harden yourself within the lines of a closed circle and clique.

  So let’s commit as a church family to resist the cultural lies that personal happiness, individualism, me-time must take precedence over connections that we have with others in our church family. Too often we run from uncomfortable, even painful, redemptive relationships that God has placed us in. The tune of radical individualism has been playing in our ears at full volume nearly all our lives. We’re dancing to the music with gusto and it’s costing us dearly. It’s costing us a close walk with the Lord. It’s also costing our church family and hindering God’s will, glory and plan. 

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