Church as family

A dear friend’s house burned down last Thursday. The smoke detector battery he replaced a few days earlier may have saved his life. He got out in time and sadly watched his home burn to the ground despite the efforts of three fire companies. He is part of our fellowship and we all feel the loss he’s enduring. We are standing with him as he picks up the pieces and makes decisions about how to proceed.

That great first century counselor of house churches wrote to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep…” (Romans 12.15). This is part of a section of the letter where Paul also says things like: “love one another with brotherly affection,” “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality,” and “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

The New Testament idea of church is that it is not just like family life, it is family life. The letters of Paul read like counsel to people whose lives are intertwined so deeply that “family” is the right, if not the only, way to describe it.

Churches often measure success these days in terms of numbers — members,  attendance and offerings. These kinds of measures, I think, are borrowed from the world. (OK. There is some mention in Acts of numbers — large numbers in Jerusalem, but small numbers in Ephesus). But there is much more emphasis on relationships, on how to be family, on how to resolve differences, on how to love one another.

Simple church has helped me appreciate these things and stop worrying about numbers. It is a good place to be.