We are going to be spending time together this summer working on learning to love one another better than we have been as a church. You will hear more of a report soon about the work of the Dawnings team that is working on visioning and next steps as a church, but let it suffice to say that among the many benefits that are coming from the Dawnings process, one of them is a growing sense of community and love among the members, simply by asking the right questions, and by committing to meet together. There are people from different generations and backgrounds in that group.
I experienced the same thing developing in a recent worship planning team meeting, where the result was a sense of love and trust in the context of the meeting, but a sense that that love and trust needed to be experienced among the broader church.
I also recently heard about a truce among church members that had been adversarial in recent months. This kind of healing, or “mendation,” as Phil Ransbottom said in a recent Dawnings team meeting, must continue and grow in our church over the next months as we consider what lies before us, and make the difficult decisions about who we are going to be as a church.
To that end, and perhaps understanding (in the Spirit) the challenges that lay ahead, I challenged the deacons in their May meeting to host meals in their homes, inviting people of different generations than their own, and seeking to know the people of the church better. The staff agreed to challenge themselves in the same way this summer, hosting meals and breaking bread with other families.
I encourage you to do the same. You will be participating in the very thing that makes churches into the body of Christ: building community. When you host, or when you are invited, focus on talking about one another’s families. Focus on ways you are growing as a family and individually. Focus on building fellowship. Play games. Tell stories. Enjoy being together.
Do NOT feel the responsibility to fix one another or the church. What Central needs are stronger relationships with God and with one another, and the rest is going to begin to work itself out.
I hope that you will accept this challenge, to either host or accept an invitation to break bread with others this summer. Blessings to you, and may God’s Spirit move in us today as we worship.
Blessings, Sonny