Church is so much more than we make it! Church is so much more than we allow it to be! Church needs to be more than just a weekly activity that we check off of our to-do list! When I read in my Bible about the early church, I find that there was very little distinction between the church and regular everyday living. The two blended together into one to become a magnificent way of life! This is what church needs to be and this is what we need for the church to be.
Church is not a place you go! Church is a people you love to be with and grow with! None of us are perfect and we have all made and will make our share of mistakes, but somehow life is just better when we get to live it together. The early church fellowshipped everyday in all kinds of different ways! Acts 2:42 says “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.” They learned about life together, they ate their meals together, they worked together and they served together. THEY DID LIFE TOGETHER!
Doing life together is about exploring and applying your faith in a community with others. We need to get to know each other. We need to share our dreams. We need to talk about and recall our precious memories. We need to study the Word and talk about how it applies in our everyday living. We need to pray with and for one another. We need to celebrate our successes and work to overcome our losses. We need to help whoever, wherever and whenever needed.
God created us to do life with Him and one of the best ways to share our life with Him is to share our life with others! Here are three suggestions for getting the most out of church and giving the most to church: 1.) Look for opportunities to share your life with others! 2.) Remember that time spent with friends is never wasted – it is invested! 3.) Make church more than just a place to go once a week!
Michael Joe Harvell 
Amen! I get so much out of my relationship with fellow believers! I feel God works in my life through others as well as other ways (His Word, His Creation and Holy Spirit). I honestly was at a very low point in my life and marriage that I felt had lost touch with God. That was before Northwood.
God had been calling us here for about 2 years. It seemed that “Northwood” was on everyone’s lips but we were trying to stay faithful to another fellowship that did not have the same calling of Out Reach that God was calling us to.
After being out of church for a couple of very miserable months, we visited and were immediately drawn in by the sweet fellowship and Word preaching that we heard here. (M. J. I still say you’ve got a little pentacostal in you! I hope that doesn’t get you in “trouble”. ha.)
Our fellowship at Northwood is sooo sweet when we get it “right”. I can feel an almost tangible feeling when someone or something is not quite right. I don’t always know what it is but I just pray that the Holy Spirit will intervene and mend whatever is broken.
I miss some very sweet people who were such an intergal part of helping to “heal our hurt”. They have either moved away or move on to Glory. But their fellowship helped teach us how to be, do and act more like family.
I could go on and on, but I’ve got to go to work in the morning and it’s late.
I’ll keep praying for ya’ll and you keep us lifted up as well. And, of course, as Baptists, we’ll break bread sometime soon I’m sure!
Love you all very much! (love the new picture, but I would photo shop the “DEAD END” out. Just a suggestion. LOL)
T. =)