A Family Church - Church Family

Matthew from Correction has a beautiful post on church as family today. I want one too! A group of God-followers who feel like home.

After 2 1/2 years at my current church, I'm still an outsider. Sure, I know some folk (mostly the worship team and pastors), can greet familiar faces in the mall, but it doesn't go much beyond there. Before and after service, everyone grabs their nearest friend for a chat. Many times I've hoped it would be me, but it usually isn't and after hanging around a bit I just leave out the side door.

Maybe I haven't done enough to really fit in. Not intruded on the nearest week-night cell, and am too shy to go up to people and introduce myself, demand their attention. At last year's church camp I only met one new person out of the 70 that were milling about.

Shame, poor me. Yeah right.

The fact is that church is not generally set up to feel like family, especially one that has a few hundred members. It's just not statistically possible, or practical.

Maybe the key is the smaller-type church community that Matthew talks about in his post, where everyone knows everyone and interacts easily - simply because there aren't that many people around.

Or one like Real Live Preacher's (also known as Gordon Atkinson after having "come out from behind the blog" ahead of his book being published) - also a small one. He often tells of kids hanging on his legs while he preaches, members who share in each other's lives and care deeply. It's made me wish I could drop in for a visit.

Maybe it's the LivingRoom type church - a gathered group without an official building, but learning to live and grow and learn together.

It's the kind of church we all long for, all of us who are longing that is. One where someone cares enough to disciple you, to be your mentor, to dig into life with you every day and explore its meaning together. To spend time getting to know more than the "Hi how are you" you.

The secret ingredient to making church like family is often illusive, hidden behind ministries and rushing around and programmes and good works. It would be awesome if more churches would actively dig to find it and leave the other stuff until they do.

Maybe then, having stepped out of where we were, Matthew and I would more easily find those places and people where our souls long to be.