We meet at least once a week in our local community. There's no need to bribe our kids to come along. They're nagging us to hurry up or we'll miss out on the fun. Tonight we're getting together in Adam and Sarah's home for a meal followed by group worship, a brief teaching and discussion segment (where we're all encouraged to contribute, so long as it's relevant to the topic!) and finally we get to pray for one another. Often something will happen that changes our plans, but that's the general idea.
The older girls take turns to mind the babies and toddlers in one of the rooms, while the children and teenagers join the adults. At first we thought we should go along with the general trend and let the teens have their own space. After all, we live in a world that elevates teen culture and youth in general at the expense of the 'oldies' (read 'those over 30'). Then we thought, let's be radical and see what happens when we all get together as one large family, regardless of age.
We've certainly had some interesting moments. After all, kids can be uncomfortably honest at times! Just a couple of weeks ago our faces went bright red when our two, aged twelve and nine respectively, decided to 'share' with the group about the huge argument we'd had that week.
"You should have heard Dad yelling", Emma had piped up. "Just because I told my friends on Facebook about what Uncle John had done when he ..." I'd interrupted just in time. No matter how close we were as a church, now was neither the time nor the place for that sort of disclosure! Yet even that night had ended on a good note, with several people encouraging us and praying for the family.
Later that night We got home tired but really excited as we thought about what had happened over the past four hours. Just as well there was no school tomorrow! Caleb, our nine-year-old, had fallen asleep in the car and had to be half-carried to bed by his dad.
The evening had started off quite normally' (if that word could ever describe the nature of our get-togethers). Everyone had brought along a dish to contribute to what turned out to be a great meal. Then we gathered around the open fireplace and Sue brought out her guitar. She strummed a few chords and that was our cue for getting into a time of worship.
We really felt the presence of Jesus among us. I looked across at Jan, who had tears rolling down her cheeks. I went over to sit beside her and whispered, "Do you want us to pray for you?" She confided to me, between sobs, that she'd just been diagnosed with breast cancer and, yes, she really needed our prayers. I motioned to a couple of my friends and we started to pray.
Suddenly I was nudged by Emma, who had been listening. "Mum, I think Jesus wants me to pray for Jan too." So we let her join in. Emma placed her hand in Jan's and said, "Jesus told me that he is healing you right now and when you go back to your doctor he's going to find that the lump has already gone." We just knew that this was true and started to sing out our thanks to God, with Jan joining in heartily.
After a while several other people started to read out verses from the Bible that they felt God wanted them to share with the group. Someone had a song that had come to them while we'd been praying, which the children really loved. One of the teens told us about a friend of his at school who was into drugs and asked us to pray for him to know what to do to help him. A couple of fifteen-year-olds got in a huddle with him and they prayed together while we all supported them in prayer. Finally it came to an end and we reluctantly said good-bye to one another. It had been a fantastic night, even though it had not followed our original plan too closely.
That night before we went to sleep I opened my Bible and read from I Corinthians chapter 14, "So, brothers and sisters, what should you do? When you meet together, one person has a song, and another has a teaching. Another has a new truth from God to help the church grow strong." I thought, that's exactly what we're doing. That's what church is all about!
How has church changed so much from what it was in the beginning? It was never meant to be a concert, a ritual, or any spectator program devoid of intimacy. I have no tips to make church more attractive other than what I have experienced myself, and have now shared with you. As we share our lives with our fellow Christians and with our God, we become the church that God intended. We don't go to church because we are the church, the body (or family) of Christ. This not only meets our own needs, but also helps those outside our group. What could be more attractive than that?