Arrested by a Vision: Captivated by a Title
The momentum of the Visioning Team continues to grow as we continue meeting, learning, collaborating and seeking to discern the will of God for Christ United Methodist Church at this time. In addition to digging deeply into the resources developed by the division of Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church, we are also reading a wide range of books. One of the titles that we will soon begin exploring as a congregation is entitled “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become Like Him. Do as He Did” by John Mark Comer. In Comer’s book, he refers to another book entitled “When the Church was a Family: Recapturing Jesus’ Vision for Authentic Christian Community” by Joseph Hellerman.
The title of that book captured my attention in a way that is difficult to describe. As I pondered the implied question, “When was the church like a family?” I began to recall my favorite memories of church when I was a child. My first memory wasn’t about church, it was about my family after church. I remember sitting together as a family on the tailgate of my father’s Buick Estate Wagon (it was white with the fake wood-grain trim). On some Sunday afternoons, we would pick up a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken with all the “fixin’s”—mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, biscuits and “moistened towelettes” (to wipe all the grease from our hands and faces) and spend time along the Yazoo River! This was an important family time after church; we had all been together in worship and Sunday school, and the afternoon was spent laughing, playing and discussing events of the week. I’m not certain why such a casual meal created such a lasting memory. We certainly had fancier meals at home with fine china, silverware, cloth napkins and healthier foods. However, Sundays that included Sunday school, worship and good food with family seemed almost perfect.
Some of the people I knew from school and from our neighborhood were also members of the church. It was really nice to see familiar faces on Sunday morning and everyone generally seemed very happy to be there. There were lots of families at the church and there were people of various ages and backgrounds who seemed to have a lot of concern for each other. As a young child, I remember admiring the teenagers who had important responsibilities on Sunday mornings such as compiling attendance records, calculating the amount of offerings received from each class and providing summaries of the Sunday school lessons from each class. There was a “friendly competition” to determine which class had the largest attendance and which class contributed the most money. By the time I was teenager, there were fewer families in the church and there weren’t as many children and adolescents.
Comer quoted Hellerman’s book because of the emphasis upon community. Community is important for discipleship. Comer noted that “community is like the incubator for our spiritual formation.” He further quoted Hellerman as he noted ““Long-term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow.” Growth is a gradual progress that requires a deliberate investment of time. A healthy community requires a type of engagement in which our connection to each other is understood, nurtured and celebrated.
How would you answer the question, “when was church like a family to you?” What are the occasions and who are the people who are/were the indispensable parts of the church family who created the community where you felt you belonged? Your responses are critical to the work of the visioning team and the discipleship process as we pursue God’s vision for authentic community. Over the last three weeks, we have discussed various aspects of discipleship: (1) whose job is it to make disciples?; (2) to become disciples we can’t be distracted by the idea that we need to “fix the church”; and (3) discipleship begins with relationship—none of us can grow as disciples without relationship to God and to each other.
Please plan to join us Monday evening at 6:00 for the ongoing discussion about visioning and discipleship. If you’re unable to come, continue to pray for discernment and clarity during this time. You can also share suggestions and questions via email at connect@christchurchquadcities.com. We are always looking forward to seeing you in worship, in class and participating in the ministries of the church.
In Christ,
Jon McCoy
