Is This What Your Church Looks Like?


            I took this picture while we were in Indy.  It’s the top section of the Scottish Cathedral and just found the picture kind of comical. I get that the church is trying to keep bird poo off their doors, and I get that they don’t want birds to hang out there.  Too many people in the world this is exactly what churches look like to them.  They won’t set foot in a church because they see people as abrasive people, or ones that would judge them if they knew the truth behind their smiles. 
            I recently started to be on a Greeters ‘Dream Team’ at our church. I firmly believe in needing to contribute to the church you’re in, and it was something I could do as we are still living so far from the church. As I thought about it, I thought about this picture.  How would I want to be treated if I just started to come to church and don’t know what to expect.  I’m new to our church having just moved in June to be here.  How would I have liked to have been treated on the first day? 
            The Bible has simple instructions when it says to “Do unto others as you would have them do to you? (Luke 6:31)  The words are often quoted yet seldom done.  We seem to all get caught in our own motions that we forget that there are people that sometimes just need a smile or reassuring hug. 
Somehow, I keep thinking about this picture when it comes to church growth in general.  I don’t believe this is my church at all, but in general, how can we all make our own churches not look like this?  Sometimes people will come in, hang out, and get spiritual “poo” all over. How can we all learn to love people regardless of the mess the make, and see past their exterior? 
This is just a random thought I’ve been thinking of late.  I hope you can think about it too, and think about what you can do so that your church doesn’t look like this.
God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited!

*I’ve been writing these blogs for over five years now.  While I do still have plans to keep writing them, there are some changes that are going to be made.  It may not be as consistent, and instead of 2 times a week in may go down to 1.  I wanted to make that announcement just so people know I’m not slacking off.  I’m going to start mixing things up a bit.  Change is a good thing, and I feel led to break out of the typical 2 times a week way I’ve always done it.  Get excited.  I believe that God is doing great things in the body, and I believe for doorways to open up over my life and yours.  I love you all.  Super Smiles.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

....And I broke the Pickle Jar

Image
Last week my oldest daughter came running to me for help. I had just bought a new jar of pickles and she could not open them up. Surely, Mom could do it and this was going to be an easy thing. I sometimes wonder how they get those lids so tightly on jars in the factory. I was not going to pull the wimp card but I could not get that lid off. I tried banging the bottom with the palm of my hand. I saw someone do that once. It did not work. I tried twisting it, and it would not budge. I even tried getting a butter knife and breaking the seal by trying to wedge it between the lid and the jar. Nothing was working. Dan was not home and even if he was, I really hate admitting when I cannot do something like this without his help. I was going to get that jar open! Finally I took the opposite end of a butter knife and whacked at the lid. I thought a couple smacks would make the jar open, and it did. Evidently, I do not know my own strength. With the sound of breaking glass crackin...
Read more

Spiritual Motion Sickness?

It is well known in my family that I have a history of issues with motion sickness. I don’t remember when we officially discovered this: Maybe it was the time that I spent the day at the pool in the sun and then was put in the back seat of my grandparents fairly new car to travel through the hills of Southern Ohio and I puked everywhere that told us this, Or maybe it was the time my uncle decided to travel through the mountains of Gatlinburg with the side door open in the van. Perhaps it was the issues I had with vertigo as a child but whatever it was it was learned early on that I would be fine as long as I got to sit in the front seat. I am better as an adult however; I still cannot read in a long car journey. Many people suffer from spiritual motion sickness. They have become nauseous spiritually and they do not understand why. Just like how one gets motion sickness in the physical it applies spiritually. James 1:6-8 (NIV) 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, b...
Read more

Don't Fall For the Fake Jakes!

I hope all of you had an awesome Resurrection Weekend! He is Risen!! Several weeks ago I had someone claiming to be T.D. Jakes begin communication with me on twitter. At first I brushed him off thinking there was no way he was the real T.D. However this individual was persistent. We began exchanging a few direct messages back and forth. He then proceeded to invite me to go with himself and several other ministers over to Japan to preach over there. That was when I told him to email me at my website email. The conversation continued. At first I didn’t believe at all this was the real T.D. Jakes. However the more we exchanged emails the more I really thought it might. His phrasing on how he worded things sounded like the real T.D. The text emails were coming from Texas, and it was obvious this man spent a long time familiarizing himself with T.D. and his website because of the way he wove legitimate things about the real T. D. into the conversations. This went back a forth for several we...
Read more