We make church about a lot of things, but if church is going to be successful for the Kingdom, it must become less about what most of us want it to be or think it should be and more about what God created, called and crafted it to be! Church has got to be about community – inside and outside!
Church needs to be about community inside! It needs to be a safe place and people that live dangerously through the power and grace of Almighty God! Church needs to be a place where I can belong, even with all of my imperfections! Church needs to be a place where I can work on myself, while helping and being helped by others! Church needs to be a place where I am honest about who and what I am and who and what I am not! Church needs to be a place where I am motivated, encouraged and grown for God’s glory and His Kingdom’s growth! Church on the inside needs to be more about the inside of me and getting that into alignment with God and His plan for my life, so that I can go outside for His glory!
Church needs to be about community on the outside! When I am becoming in my inside what I need to be on the inside of the church, I cannot be content with community on the inside, because in my heart and spirit I know that there is a world full of people that need exactly what I have received – living on the outside! If the inside is right and growing, then I am compelled by a force greater than myself to step outside of myself to reach into other people’s lives and make a difference! I can be a bridge from the inside to the outside and from the outside to the inside! This difference or bridge-building will be made through love, acceptance and blessing, not hate, judgment and curses!
Community will come on the inside and outside, when we learn to love as we have been loved! God help me to be loved by you, even though I am unlovable and help me to love others, especially when they are unlovable!
Michael Joe Harvell 