_PNG.png)
going back to yesterday’s conversation, all i’m saying is let’s be careful what we are asking for…and careful how we promote ourselves…to each other and to those that are looking on from outside our walls.
often, churches are guilty of saying things like:
“we have authentic community here.”“we’re a church full of real people.”“we really value honesty and transparency.”“you won’t find fake or churchy people here.”
but the reality is we have a church filter. there are some limitations to just how transparent and how honest we can really be with people we are with a few hours each week. we can’t afford to go overboard in the pictures we paint of ourselves. dishonesty doesn’t serve us, or the kingdom, well.
if you didn’t read the comments from yesterday, you need to read what kim wrote. it puts the situation into perspective:
A number of thoughts here – If you live with someone there is a degree of intimacy built that includes acceptance for people’s raw side. Thankfully we are not one-dimentional, but would you really want people to behave as they would at home? The dynamics of that are mind boggling. I think we appreciate the positive side of ourselves around our church family. That’s not fake, though it is filtered. (go to yesterday’s comments and read her whole post.)
living together affords people the opportunity to experience layers and layers of human interaction…all of the worst and all of the best we have to offer. normal family life gives us that time luxury. church life doesn’t.
that’s why we have to work hard to spend more time with each other…worshipping…serving…relating…building. we don’t encourage church family involvement to boast about numbers or show people how great our programs are. it is surely not our goal to create more burdens on already over-loaded schedules.
it’s just that if we are ever going to approach a level of honest and sincere authenticity in our relationships…not the same kind we have with the families we live with…but realistic and genuine friendships that are both healthy for our souls and challenging to our spirits, we have to spend more time with each other.
we can’t make you spend more time with your church family…but i wish we could make you want to.
Comments