It made me stop to ponder the changes that I've seen in the ten years I've been here. Frankly, there have been a lot of them. I remember candidating here in July of 1999. Pretty much the whole church was at Rick and Chris Holland's place for a barbecue. Most of us fit in the garage. At church the next day, there were lots of extra chairs stacked up in the back of the old sanctuary. I recall preaching, and getting to the end of the message and having no idea what to do next. Thankfully, we all laughed and Chris Wright came to my rescue and started a worship song. He's been a friend ever since.
Truly we were a small church family.
Things have changed, and as we have grown we have many more opportunities for ministry and outreach. I'm excited about that. At the same time, I've been pondering how to keep the "small church family" feel even as we grow. I've come up with a few thoughts I'd like you to try on for size.
Get to know your new "in-laws." Most of us have experienced someone marrying into our extended family and we know that we have a responsibility to welcome and get to know the newest member of the family. It's the responsibility of the members of the family to dispel the awkwardness that the new addition feels and start to build a relationship with them. It's the same way with our church family. As new people come, we have a responsibility to welcome them and to get to know them. Working at that has a wonderful way of turning a room full of strangers into a family.
Build special relationships, but not to the exclusion of others. In an extended family, there are always those relatives who get together and do things in smaller gatherings. Three brothers that hunt together, the aunts that get together to quilt, etc. While not excluding everyone else, these relationships are usually closer than others. In the same way, we need to foster some closer relationships with people that we "go through life with." These relationships don't really exclude others, but they recognize that you cannot be best friends with everyone.
Don't forget the "chores"! We are not a theater that puts on a weekly show for the entertainment of others. We are a family of people that, among other things, meets together to worship God once a week. As a family, there are things that need to get done. Just like at home there are mundane, sometimes unpleasant, tasks that need to be done. As family members, we pitch in and help. It is part of the deal.
Part of maintaining that "small church" feel means committing ourselves to servanthood. To doing things that need to be done even if we don't feel like it at the moment. In a strange way, it's doing those things that make a church "ours" and change it from being something we attend to the family we belong to.
Need some examples?
- How about doing something about the garbage next time you notice it overflowing? (See what I mean? It's just like home.)
- Did you notice a bunch of rocks on the sidewalk? The broom is between the doors. (See me if you don't know how one works.)
- What about the nursery? What kind of family member says "I don't like kids. I won't help watch them once or twice a year."?
- What about picking up the paper you notice on the floor?
- Maybe you can stick around to help clean up when people are done drinking coffee on Sundays?
