When I say the word church, what comes to mind? With the rising number of disenchanted Christians telling their stories of hurt, it\u2019s worth asking why a person would want to attend church with the reputation it has. But maybe when I say \u201cchurch,\u201d you immediately picture a handful of close friends because it\u2019s been a safe, welcoming place of belonging and care. Or maybe, like me, you\u2019ve had both experiences. You love the Church yet sometimes wish you could distance yourself from the pain or inconvenience that comes with living alongside other people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My husband and I attend a neighborhood church where he serves as the youth leader. We\u2019re both \u201cpeople people\u201d (we finally made a shared calendar to keep track of our varying commitments!), and what I\u2019ve realized since being with him is that, as a single adult, I curated my community so that I was primarily spending time with those who were like-minded. Since being together, I\u2019ve found myself around a lot more people I have little in common with. Hospitality comes easy when you\u2019re sitting across the table from someone who shares your love for quality time and deep conversation. But now, ministry and friendship have become less convenient. \u201cAbove all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity,\u201d wrote Paul in his letter to a local church (Colossians 3:14). I\u2019ve sensed God inviting me to not just make room, but to pursue unity with different kinds of people without needing anything in return, whether those are junior high students, staff members, sports moms, or new friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God calls us to care for the people in our spiritual community. There is a calling to tetheredness, a \u201cwith-ness\u201d in the lives of His people together. \u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer,\u201d describes Acts 2:42. Nothing in this verse implies that this was easy, convenient, or even mutually desired (the day I discovered not everyone in our church wanted to be my friend was a needed awakening\u2014ooph!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do a lot of things. But do we really see people? Do we extend warmth and welcome, seeking to know and understand? There are a few things, I think, that can hinder this: an overbooked calendar, an idolatry of self-comfort, or an aversion to difficult or needy people. Even so, it\u2018s for our benefit and God\u2019s glory that we lay down our lives and pursue the best for one another (1Thessalonians 5:15). This means arranging our days so we have space to show up for God\u2019s people in worship, service, and fellowship, sharing both burdens and joys together. And on the days when we are feeling tired or lonely, maybe they\u2019ll be there to do the same for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I say the word church, what comes to mind? With the rising number of disenchanted Christians telling their stories of hurt, it\u2019s worth asking why a person would want to attend church with the reputation it has. But maybe when I say \u201cchurch,\u201d you immediately picture a handful of close friends because it\u2019s been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":71639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-makingroom24"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71656],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"TITLE<\/b>
\r\nby Bailey Gillespie<\/i>
\r\n
When I say the word church, what comes to mind? With the rising number of disenchanted Christians telling their stories of hurt, it\u2019s worth asking why a person would want to attend church with the reputation it has. But maybe when I say \u201cchurch,\u201d you immediately picture a handful of close friends because it\u2019s been a safe, welcoming place of belonging and care. Or maybe, like me, you\u2019ve had both experiences. You love the Church yet sometimes wish you could distance yourself from the pain or inconvenience that comes with living alongside other people.<\/p>
\r\n
My husband and I attend a neighborhood church where he serves as the youth leader. We\u2019re both \u201cpeople people\u201d (we finally made a shared calendar to keep track of our varying commitments!), and what I\u2019ve realized since being with him is that, as a single adult, I curated my community so that I was primarily spending time with those who were like-minded. Since being together, I\u2019ve found myself around a lot more people I have little in common with. Hospitality comes easy when you\u2019re sitting across the table from someone who shares your love for quality time and deep conversation. But now, ministry and friendship have become less convenient. \u201cAbove all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity,\u201d wrote Paul in his letter to a local church (Colossians 3:14). I\u2019ve sensed God inviting me to not just make room, but to pursue unity with different kinds of people without needing anything in return, whether those are junior high students, staff members, sports moms, or new friends.<\/p>
\r\n
God calls us to care for the people in our spiritual community. There is a calling to tetheredness, a \u201cwith-ness\u201d in the lives of His people together. \u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer,\u201d describes Acts 2:42. Nothing in this verse implies that this was easy, convenient, or even mutually desired (the day I discovered not everyone in our church wanted to be my friend was a needed awakening\u2014ooph!)<\/p>
\r\n
We do a lot of things. But do we really see people? Do we extend warmth and welcome, seeking to know and understand? There are a few things, I think, that can hinder this: an overbooked calendar, an idolatry of self-comfort, or an aversion to difficult or needy people. Even so, it\u2018s for our benefit and God\u2019s glory that we lay down our lives and pursue the best for one another (1Thessalonians 5:15). This means arranging our days so we have space to show up for God\u2019s people in worship, service, and fellowship, sharing both burdens and joys together. And on the days when we are feeling tired or lonely, maybe they\u2019ll be there to do the same for us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"11","scripture":"Acts 2:38-47, Acts 4:32, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Colossians 3:14-17, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}