Hello Kansas Disciples!!
It seems like we just celebrated Christmas and New Year’s and here we are with the first month of 2024 behind us as well. As I have been making visits to many congregations in the Central/High Plains Districts, I have appreciated the welcoming from many of the church members from handshakes to even hugs. This reminds me of a statement I read a week or two ago, “Weekly handshakes and hellos are not enough to get to know your church.”
How well do you know people in your congregation or even within the region? Now I am talking about really knowing them, more than just knowing their name. We need to spend time together; we need to stay around after worship and even regional events and get to know people. This seems to be a hard concept for Christians to grasp because usually at a fellowship opportunity, we gravitate to our friendship groups instead of using the time to get to know someone new!
I think we need to realize that for some folks, not knowing others in our churches can be a big barrier to church involvement and feeling welcomed. Just think about this: if it’s hard to find a familiar face in church, it’s tough to see that Christian community as family that we continually talk about. You see, it makes sense that if new people don’t know other people around them, they won’t get involved, so they won’t meet people and eventually they leave to find community and family somewhere else.
We all know that we have to work on our relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors, so why do we think it will be different in our churches? We must be intentional about meeting and building relationships within our congregations even within our region. While some relationships will spontaneously develop by chance, the friendship factor is too crucial to leave to chance. We can’t just hope members will make friends in the church — we must encourage it, plan for it, structure for it, and help make it happen. We need to think relationally! We need to take 15 minutes after worship to meet, chat, and spend time together.
We need to create as many opportunities as we can for people to meet and get to know each other. You can walk in and out of church for years and still never really develop any friendships because a friendship isn’t built by sitting beside someone, but by living life together.
I read this the other day and I love it: “Our church must always be growing larger and smaller at the same time.” By that, they mean there must be a balance between the large group worship or event and the small groups. Both are important to the health of a church.
Remember that this was the model of the early church — Acts 2: 42-47:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
So, how will you build upon your relationships with those inside the walls of your congregation as well as those across the region?
Rev. Dr. David Dubovich