Church Family

Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. - Lilo & Stitch

I am having a hard time organizing my thoughts, so stick with me. We will see where this goes.

This has been bothering me lately - the fact that church isn't viewed as a family.
Families are the foundation of societies, the keeper of generations past, the strongest relationships one will ever have, and the fertile soil on which spiritual growth flourishes.

Church today is viewed as a business. People come with the thoughts of: How can this work for me? Are these people going to be friendly towards me and my family? How can I keep my skeletons hidden in my closet? What programs will cater to my needs? What programs will cater to my children's needs? What can the church do to serve me? Churches then fall into this trap: How can we market or advertise ourselves so more people will come? Who can we hire to maintain our cool image and keep up with modern design? How can we attract wealthier clients to give more towards our "cause"?

How about family? I don't know about you, but our family is messy. We don't all like the same things. We are loud, we are crazy, we are late to things, we are obnoxious, and we get on each other's nerves. We are brutally honest, we rebuke each other and we fight.

BUT

We repent. We are forgiving. We give grace and apply grace to every area of each other's lives. We cover each other in love, and at the end of the day, we always say "I love you." We laugh with each other, cry with each other, grieve with each other. We fight for each other. We are loved and we are accepted. We are blessed.

When there is a problem, you try to find a solution. You compromise. When you fight with someone, you work it out, make up, and continue on better for the experience. It doesn't help to just leave or walk out, because at some point you have to come back to your family and the longer it continues on, it could get awkward. (Especially if you run into them at the grocery store, for crying out loud!)

Any family that is a broken family will tell you that it hurts. It hurts when people that you love leave you. It hurts when they go and try to find solace somewhere else, or with someone else. The family will say, but we laughed with you, cried with you, celebrated with you, grieved with you, mourned with you, helped you, fought for you. We loved you! And the person who leaves is basically saying it wasn't enough.

You weren't good enough for me.

Um, Excuse me? I wasn't good enough for you? We weren't good enough for you? Just exactly who do you think you are?

Jesus Christ came to this earth to die for his church. He relentlessly pursues her, despite her flaws and failings. We have to be conformed to Christ and His image, and to do that, we must love what he loves. Guess what he loves? HIS CHURCH. It's messy. It's flawed. It fails in many ways. But as long as the preaching of the Word of God is maintained, the Holy Spirit will do his work. None of us are perfect, which makes for a very imperfect church. But trust the gospel. The preaching of the gospel always brings change. The church is ever evolving, ever changing, for the better. If you don't like how your church family does things exactly, stick around. Change will come.

But you don't leave your family because you don't like the same music as they do. You don't leave your family because you had a disagreement with your parents. That's called being immature in the real world. It's called not facing the music. But for some reason, when it comes to the church family, it is completely accepted.

And if you are reading this and are even considering the possibility of bailing on your church family, this is your sign. DON'T DO IT. Stop. Repent of your pride and your selfishness and your sin. Go to your family, ask for forgiveness, and move forward. If there needs to be some changes in your church, work hard to make them happen. Don't rely on leadership to do or think of everything. It takes all members of the body to function. And if that means I am a little toe toenail, then so be it. I need my little toe toenail, thank you very much. Without it, I would look weird.

If this post made you uncomfortable, good. We accept you and we love you, but we will tell it like it is.

Welcome to the family.