YouthFire Blog

I just got back from a “Whiteboard Society” meeting. Basically, three of my friends and I got together around a whiteboard and discussed deep thoughts, questions, and ideas. It ranged from baptism to private schools to shaving and we ended our night talking about the church. We made two categories on the whiteboard. One section was about what’s wrong with the church and the other section was about what the church should be. We brainstormed and wrote and wrote and brainstormed and wrote some more. Then we discussed.

We decided to focus on what the church should be rather than to whine and complain and go off on tangents of what’s wrong in the church. It was rather interesting. I think the things that jumped out to me most were comments on how the church should be open, honest, and vulnerable. The church should share things with each other in a place where they can feel safe doing so without being judged.

I think the church should be more than just a building we go to on Sundays. It’s a community of believers. It’s fellowship, it’s service, it’s worshiping together. I recently blogged about how blessed I am to be a part of several wonderful churches. I have my home church, which I feel is kind of an extended family to me. I also have the campus ministry I’m involved with and a small group Bible study. It just seems to me that while we’re not to the point of complete openness and honesty, we’re getting there. We share our struggles, our joys, our sorrows. And I think it’s incredible.

Anyway, I think YouthFire is also a church. It’s a group of believers who get together and share their life experiences. I hope all of you who read this can continue being open and honest with each other, loving one another, lifting one another up, and serving God together. Come talk to me sometime! I want to hear about your life and share my life with you.

In closing, I leave you with some more of my thoughts on the church that I blogged about a few weeks ago:

“Sometimes Christians don’t always agree with each other, and I think that’s okay. The early Christians didn’t always agree on things either. We haven’t figured things out. It’s okay to question things. What matters is that we trust and believe that Christ died for us and rose again. When we have unity in that, isn’t that what matters? Philippians 2:1-4 says, ‘If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’

I think this is the beauty of the church. When we can put aside our piddly little differences and focus on Christ, it’s an awesome thing. When we can look out for each other, it’s beautiful. I see this in the churches I belong to. I think I forget this sometimes, so it’s just really cool to be reminded of how blessed I am to be part of a wonderful group of Christians.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 1:50 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.