A City Should Be Shining on a Hill

I think something is starting to change. I'm not sure, because if it is, its changing slowly, but I think its starting to become OK to belong to something to again. Let me explain...

For a long time in the UK, belonging to a community, whatever the nature of that community has been seen to be a bit quaint, a bit old fashioned - something that you do if you're not quite able to get along by yourself, in the way that we feel we should be able to.

But I think its starting to change. I think its becoming acceptable, perhaps even in some cases desirable to have something to which you belong. It might be a sports team, a neighbourhood association, a community project. It might even be a church.

People coming along who want to belong to a church is a good thing. But it does bring challenges for those of us already in those churches. Because wanting to belong to a church these days doesn't necessarily mean the same as believing in the things the church believes in. And it almost definately doesn mean behaving in the way that people in the church already expect people to behave.

And here lies the first challenge for those already within the church. Because we need to be able to be open and welcoming to people from outside our cozy little circle, even if their behaviour isn't quite what we'd expect. After all, if we're honest, our behaviour isn't perfect, is it? We may be better at not showing it, and the ways in which we don't match up to God's ways may be less obvious to the outside eye, but they're there alright. So who are we to judge? Really, we should be excited that people have come into our community, and want to be part of it, whilst praying for them and praying that God helps them to see Him for who he really is, because its only through encountering Jesus that people will truly be changed.

But there also lies the second challenge for us in churches, because whilst we need to be open and welcoming, we need to continue to be true to the God we worship - we need to continue to be clear that the very reason our community exists is to worship him, and to spread his word throughout the world. The challenge, if we are to welcome those who come because they want to be part of the community first and foremost is that we don't do so in a way which compromises our beliefs - we don't want to become solely a social club, or a daycare centre, or a social action project - we want to be a living, breathing community, sharing the Grace, Mercy and Love of God with those around us.