During the depths of lockdown I was out walking having a pastoral conversation when we bumped into someone who went to the same church. I was surprised to find myself being asked: ‘Would you introduce me to your friend?’ They had been members in the same largish church for around six years and, though they had seen each other, had never had a conversation.
At the very least, a church needs a team spirit across the congregation. But can this be there when people have never even spoken to one another?
Beautiful churches
When it comes to the practical workings of churches in ways that please the Lord, the pictures of a family and the church as the body of Christ are at the forefront in the New Testament. When the members of a church love one another like brothers and sisters and act together like a coordinated body with every member involved for the good of all, this is beautiful in God’s sight. Out of the matrix of family love within the church, a whole raft of ‘one another’ commands emerge in the NT. Further, the leaders are designated ‘elders’, indicating they are mature members of the community who, having brought
Out of the blue
The Psalmist writes of crying to God ‘out of the depths’. I’m sure many of us have been there at …