The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be the church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is in this world nothing sacred but man, no sanctuary of man but the soul. ~John Havlik, People-Centered Evangelism
My husband and I talked last night about the fast. (Although I am sure my readers are getting bored with the subject, it is foremost on my mind each hour of my day.) He had some feelings to sort out and I was rather surprised that I had some rather strong opinions that came out of me as well. Is it the leading of the Holy Spirit? I hope so.
We are a very small church meeting in a small house. The one-car garage has been enclosed, there is a room used for the church office, and there is one room upstairs divided in two by partitions. Our sanctuary is made of the dining and living room combined, after the wall between them was torn down. Other than that, there is the kitchen and two bathrooms. Now there has been the suggestion that we could go to home churching, but, you know, I just kept thinking for some months before the financial crunch that we are a church meeting in a house...as to the facilities, but not a home church in structure.
Now, that is where my part of the conversation came out so strongly, which I am hoping is from the Lord. As a church body, we seem to have this impression that in order to serve our church members as well as be prepared to grow that we must be able to offer as many groups as we can according to ages and we must absolutely offer a nursery. Now if we were truly meeting in someone's home, this would just not be feasible, but as if we must compete with large churches or keep some decorum, we are doing this, yet we could be burning out the few people we have.
Also, we are not fostering families well. I suppose that everyone needs a break from their children, I understand this since I homeschool, but I do not believe that church should be that place. I mean, people sit with their children to see a 90-minute movie at the theater, but they would rather not sit with them in church? As a homeschooling family, my daughter and I have devotions daily (most of the time), but if I were to ask any one of the families in my church if they did or do have daily devotions with their children or spouses, I am pretty sure the answer would be disappointing...and yet everyone can tell you about their favorite TV show or what someone else wrote on Facebook.
So, there is this: What if we let go of this ideology and stop we trying to be like a bigger church? We are a very small church. What if we restructure the church so that it can be what it is and do that very well? What if we just become a family church, where we encourage families to worship together at the church and at home? If one of the younger children is getting too restless, instead of having him separated from the church family the minute he gets in the door, wouldn't it be nice if people just offered to help out as they feel led to do so as needed? What if we keep our children in the service so they can see their parents and other adults worshiping, giving testimonies, praying, crying, and laughing, so they can learn by example how to worship? What if we could have a children's sermonette relating to the sermon and then the children would understand more, perhaps listen better during the sermon.
Then, I was thinking of Mr. Syler. He came two Sundays ago, but he could not stay long enough to hear the Princess play the song she had prepared...and he really adores her. If you could see the way his eyes light up when he sees her! Unfortunately, he just cannot sit up but for a few minutes, but he can recline. I mentioned that maybe we could bring in a recliner for him and I heard back that we do not have the space. My husband and I have a small wing back recliner we could loan to the church to keep in the office that might take up the space of four seats, when Mr. Syler comes, and we have more than four seats vacant on each Sunday at this point anyway. If I walked into a church that catered like that to the oldest member, who most likely will not be walking this earth much longer, I would fall in love with it immediately! There must be other people out there that feel the same way...there just must be!
I just feel this desire, this deep seated need, to do things differently than every other church is doing them...not for the sake of being different, but because we are different. I feel we need to minister to each other and use what we have more wisely. It may be a small building, but it is not used much at all really. I think the addition of our Wednesday night prayer time has brought us all closer and perhaps people are going to see everything from a different perspective during and after the fast. In the meantime, I will keep praying and seeking my Lord. I am hoping I am speaking out from what He has laid on my heart and it is not just my own will getting in the way. I sincerely hope that.
~ My Lord, my Lord. Tears of sorrow come so frequently now. My heart is breaking for those, who cannot let go, who cannot just surrender to You completely. Even I am now waiting while You are silent. I do not feel forsaken, yet I feel unsure. Are these "what if's" just the outpouring of my own heart, or do they come from You? ~
