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Articles
Belonging to the Church
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
Last week, we had a lesson titled The Upward Call, based on Philipians 3:14. The church is the result of God’s calling (I Corinthians 1:2). God calls all people to salvation through the gospel (II Thessalonians 2:13-14; Mark 16:15). Those who answer God’s call and “call on” the name of Jesus (I Corinthians 1:2; Acts 22:16) are added to the church (Acts 2:47). At the end of the lesson, I challenged everyone to stop going to church - that is, stop thinking of “church” as something you “go to” for an hour or two only to leave and go back home. The church is not something Christians “go to,” the church is something Christians belong to! So what can you do to more fully engage with the local church here at Danville? Consider the following suggestions:
Support the work of the church.
Commit to attending every possible worship service and Bible study.
Prepare for Bible class. Show up ready to listen and engage.
Arrive at services 10-15 minutes early. Then, stick around for a few minutes at the conclusion of services to chat.
Discuss the lessons with your family and other members of the church.
Consider helping teach a Bible class in the near future. Ask the elders what you can do to prepare.
Ask Bible class teachers what they need help with.
Make new connections.
When services are over, find someone to greet and talk with whom you have never met, or whom you have not spoken to in a while.
Sit on the opposite side of the building from your usual seat. (Also, try scooting up a few rows!)
Invite someone new out to lunch or over to your house for dinner. (“Someone new” could be a new member, or a member who’s been around a while, but whom you’ve never spent much time with.)
Host a game night and invite a few different families over.
Look for an opportunity to help a fellow member with something.
Bring a meal to someone on the sick list.
Shovel the snow out of the driveway of a fellow member.
Ask a young mom if she needs someone to watch her child for an afternoon so she can catch up on another task.
If you are not sure of someone who needs any help, talk with our elders about your desire and they can point you in the right direction.
Visit our elderly members or those who are shut-in.
Be an encourager.
Send a text message or a card to tell someone you appreciate them and their faith.
Pay attention to the work of our elders and deacons and thank them for what they do.
Look at the classrooms downstairs and compliment our amazing Bible class teachers for their work with our children.
Pray for one another regularly.
Every person cannot do everything, but every person can do something. These are simply suggestions. The goal is to help each of us be an engaged member of the Lord’s church. Belonging to the church needs to involve more than just warming a pew for an hour or 2 each week. While there are plenty of actions on the list to consider, the list is far from exhaustive. Additionally, the objective of this list is not for you to check a couple items off and move on with your life. The goal is for these types of things to become habitual as we aim to be engaged members of the Lord’s church, aspiring to the Lord’s upward call.
