Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Proverbs 8-9
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 1:38
Jesus: It’s time we went somewhere else—the next village, maybe—so I can tell more people the good news about the kingdom of God. After all, that’s the reason I’m here.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Carole and I are living in our twenty-fourth home since we’ve been married. That’s a lot of moves in just under forty years. But I’ve discovered a few perks to moving that often compared to living in the house we’re in now for the last nine. When you move that often you don’t have to spring clean, you just move. When you move that often, you don’t stash away a lot of stuff you’ll never find again because you put every thing in boxes that you open on the other end of the move. Boxes are never labeled the way they should be, of course, so every box is opened to find the stuff you thought you had, right? When you move so often, it’s like Christmas because you find things you didn’t know you had when you open some of those boxes and see treasures you’d forgotten about in the business of life.
And when you move so often, you make friends in new places. And I think that’s the best part. But moving so often also means you leave friends behind and that’s never an easy thing to do. I think it’s this friends part that Jesus and His disciples faced as He told them it’s time to move on. They wanted to stay. Incredible things were happening right there. Lots of people were hearing the good news. People were learning about the kingdom and the message God had for them. People found healing for their bodies and for their souls when they came to Jesus. But I think Jesus began to see the problem that Carole and I have often seen in even great churches because of our many moves.
Especially now in our mobile societies, an interesting phenomenon takes place in our churches that’s hard to avoid, but we really must if we really carry out the mission God wants us to carry out. Carole and I have found that almost every church has walls. Not just physical walls that hold the roof up, but invisible walls that keep newcomers from joining in. No one really means for those walls to be there and most churches think they don’t have them. But they exist, nonetheless. Here’s why.
Because we don’t have real community churches anymore in which people walk to their church and meet each other across their fence every day during the week, for most parishioners, the only time they see each other is at church. So what happens? Before services, between services, after services friends catch up on the latest news. So what do the newcomers do? They slip in and out of the building because they don’t want to interupt ongoing conversations. They hear the laughter and see the smiles. Everyone knows it’s a friendly church except the newcomers because they’ve gone unnoticed except by the person who handed them a bulletin at the door.
We don’t mean to be unfriendly as churches. We don’t think we exclude people from our fellowship. But most churches actually do a very poor job of assimilating new people into their congregation. There are some giant churches in which people come and enjoy the music and the sermons and like to worship together, but even in those mega-churches, you’ll find hundreds of people who have worshiped there for months who no one knows and they don’t know anyone there. They’re still newcomers, really.
The only way Carole and I broke the code to force ourselves into churches quickly was to join the choir. Music is one of her gifts. I mostly tagged along as her driver and to make friends. But that’s how we made friends fast in the churches we attended as we moved from place to place. We, as newcomers, kind of boldly went where others might not. We never waited for someone to ask us, we asked to join. That made us strange birds, because no one volunteers at church as soon as they walk in the door, right? Well, we did and it’s how we made friends in every church we attended through our many moves.
Why did I tell you about our experiences? Because if you’ve attended a church for a while, I’m sure you have friends there you talk with before, between, and after services. Be careful not to exclude the newcomers. Look for them and invite them into your circle. Make them part of your congregation. You never know who you might see and what you might learn along the way if you’ll just stop and pay attention. You might even see me someday!
And if you’re a newcomer, understand the dynamics of a church. People don’t purposely exclude you or shun you. Expect to have to push your way into those groups. The best way to make friends in a new place is to volunteer in an activity that meets often. For us it was the choir. If you don’t sing, volunteer in a women or men’s group. Get into a vibrant Sunday School class and participate, but don’t just sit and do nothing in that class. Join whatever group or class or activity interests you that causes people to talk to you and you to them. That’s how friendships are built.
Jesus told His disciples it was time to move on. He had a message to spread, but maybe He wanted to make sure He disciples also learned to make new friends in strange places. It’s a thought!
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.