Church as Family

Do you see Church as an event? Somewhere you go on a Sunday morning. Events are things that start time and end time. (Although at some churches you are never quite sure when it will end or even start.) The definition of an event is “ a thing that happens” or a “a planned public or social occasion.” An event may have my involvement in it, or I may be a passive participant, but it is clearly not designed to be intimate or personal. Unfortunately, this often describes the church all too well. Churches try to create the entertainment factor, the human interest aspect, (good sermons) and the social experience (coffee and goodies are now staples on a Sunday morning, at least they should be).

I wonder what we have created?

I would like to suggest, the Sunday morning experience ought to be more like arriving home. There is a vast difference in going to an event and coming home to the family. If coming home is an event for you, then there other issues that might needing to be addressed, but not for this blog.

A popular saying is that we don’t go to church, we are the church. Unfortunately, this is not the experience for most. We at KCF are trying to change the channel on church life. In recognizing that families are not perfect, everything is not choreographed, and it gets messy at times. However, in it all there is a calming comfortableness, a refreshing genuineness and atmosphere of nurturing that causes one to grow strong and mature emotionally. To enjoy the benefits of the family experience, it requires commitment, taking responsibility and a healthy dose of love and acceptance. Jesus called us to be in a family; we are to call God “our father” we are considered brothers and sisters in the Lord, and the church is called “household of God” or the family home.

The Sunday morning experience could be compared to meeting with the extended family, while the small group is our immediate family. Here we do life together, laugh, enjoy each other, learn to love each other, work together, and study God’s word. Psalms 68:6 says, God sets the lonely in families.

Never before in our culture do we have a more “lonely” people. God has a plan, it is called the family of God, otherwise known as the church.

This Sunday, I will be concluding my series on Reaching People. I will be sharing on the Church, A Family Like No Other.

Jim Reimer, Pastor

September 12, 2019