A guy that came to our group for the first time this past Thursday wrote a really encouraging note on Facebook. I did not say hi to him or even notice he was at group. Honestly this note touched my heart. Can you believe how the Lord is using our group.. I couldnt ask for someone to say anything different than what this note entails. Thanks Holy Spirit for your presence in our community!!! Here is the note:
I witnessed something absolutely amazing this past thursday. I want to say I went to church, but i did not. It was more along the lines of a small group, except there were about 60 people or so there. For the first time in a long time I saw the body of Christ outside the setting of a church.
One of my friends took me to a gathering of Christians where they usually have Bible studies, but this go around it was just worship and testimonies. I have to say i found it extremely awesome. I find it so rare to find a group of believers like this, or rather, a group of believers that exist outside of church walls or christian schools. It's funny, really. We were in a church building, but i did not feel it was church, but rather a group of believers leaning on one another for the betterment of each other.
I heard people open up in a way that was 100% vunerable to everyone around. Every person i heard from had stripped themselves of the judgmental attitude that plagues our churches today. That's rare, even in a church setting. So often we feel that we cannot open up ourselves to other people, especially when we have sinned or have guilt. This was not the case at all! I heard of a young man who had his struggles with jail and found Christ and is a new man. I heard of a young woman who had no issue what so ever announcing that she had been drug free for weeks. I heard of alcohol abuse, broken marriages, a loss of a child, financial situations...all this coming from Christians openly expressing what was going on or has gone on in their lives and how God has blessed them through it.
When did the church become the last place we could do this? Why is it Christians, myself included, tend to look down on another's sin? At what point do we stop shooting our wounded and help mend the broken hearted? The question i that i ask myself is why do i not see the church like this more often? Am i that synical and/or jaded of the church and the 'bad' things i've seen happen within it? Am i not surrounding myself with the right people? Majority of my friends are non-Christian...is that a bad thing?
This past thursday the people in this group call themselves a community, but i saw something much more. For the first time in a long time i saw the body of Christ working as it was intended!
Isnt that encouraging??? :) I thought so!
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