But I Don't Need To Be In Church To Be Christian

Photo by William Sembello

In our Baptismal Covenant, we first state who we know God to be and then we confirm how we practice our faith in the world around us. How are we supposed to show the world, who God is? The first question is about how do we act as a community and an individual.


Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers?

I will with God’s help. (Book of Common Prayer, 304)

 

Never too old or too young to know you belong
Photo by Laura Weaver

The Apostles teaching are focused on what it is to be a community that follows Christ and that lives in a way that is different from the world. A community that does not give into the fears that the world puts on us but rather proclaims to the world that God is always present; a community that honor each member as a creation of God. This is message given to us in the Epistles.

 

Many times we are terrible at being that community but that is why we practice our faith together. Our communal prayers and worship remind us how we are to treat one another and how to remain connected to God. No one in the community gets it right all the time but if the community is focused on how Jesus and the Apostles taught us to be together, we may be right more than we are wrong.



Corporate Prayer Revelas God's Kingdom
Photo by Emily Lukanich 

The invitation to God’s table and the expectation that we will break bread together is paramount in our experience of God. Not all knowledge is verbal. Receiving God’s grace through the Eucharist enables us to share that grace with those who come across our path. For me knowing that the Table is open to all persons who believe reminds me that I am not the gate keeper but the server at the God’s Table. It is in our churches where our children learn how to be open to God and to one another. It is where we are reminder how to be an imperfect follower of Christ. None of these lessons can be learned if we try to practice our faith alone.

 

Teaching our children that they belong means
that they must be there.
Photo by Alan Boyce

We were created to be in community. We were given one another so that we can see God. You see the church community is, can be and should be the place where we have to teach our children that they can be broken and vulnerable, the place that will feed them when they are hungry, clothe them when they are unable to work, a community that grieves with them and rejoices with them, a space where they can be fully human and totally fallible. The church should be a place where they learn how to be imperfect while striving and learning how to be like Jesus. They can only discover these lessons if they are in that community.


Conversation Starters:

  • Where do you feel you can be yourself?
  • Is it at church? Is it in our family? Why or Why not?
  • Why do you think we take you to church?
  • What do you think is the “job” of the church community?
  • How do you know you belong there?


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