Relationships

When I first decided to give my life for the Kingdom of God, the relationships I had were absolutely essential in helping me to establish a firm foundation. We moved back to Lincoln shortly thereafter, and God led us to a group of people we are still with today. The very first thing I really remember our pastor saying is, "Do you even know if the person sitting next to you is contemplating suicide?" He went on to tell us that if we are going to be the church, if we're going to be able to lay down our lives for one another, if we're really going to be able to love each other...we have to get to know each other.

Leonard and I have been completely sold on this concept ever since. Love God, Love Each Other. It's the church. It's the way it has to be if we're going to be effective. In the old days, our church really shined in this area. We knew how to relate. We knew how to love. But somehow, we were lacking in other areas. We loved each other so much, we never really reached out to anyone else. Somehow, without meaning to, we became very exclusive.

Our pendelum has swung way over to the other side now. We embrace the new people we can bring in... and I love that.  Yet, we've lost so much of the relationship aspect of it. I never want to be a Christian that just sees the people God has joined me together with on Sundays. I want to be the church that really loves one another and would lay our lives down for each other in a heartbeat. I want the depth of relationship that can only come from being joined together by the Spirit of God. And, in a sense, Leonard and I have devoted our lives to this. We will probably spend the rest of our days on earth trying to get people together, putting them in situations where they have the opportunity to get to know one another. Love God, Love One Another. It is vital to the life of the church.

I love the fact that our church brings in so many visitors. And I loved having a church where people really want to live life together. I refuse to believe we can't have both.