There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and that is kind of how I see a church family sometimes. I have been in churches where they pretended to care inside the church walls, but as soon as you left those walls, you didn't hear much from them. But I have to say the church I am at now, is a family through and through. The younger girls are my sisters and I talk to them all the time and we spend time together outside of church. Some of the guys like Cliff and Eddie are like my brothers: I could see them both protecting me the way my brother always has. Pastor Paul and Dave are like fathers and Shirley, Debbie and some of the other women are like my mothers. And it isn't like that with just me, but everyone else that steps foot through those doors.
No matter what one of us is going through we are all there supporting each other. We stand together as one, the way a family would. Parents of young children (babies) barely hold their children, everyone else within the church wants to hold the child. In fact myself and another one of the teens debate over who gets to hold Pastor's granddaughter. I think when it comes to church it needs to be like that, churches need to feel like a family inside and out. You cannot leave the church on Sunday and that be the end of the friendship/kinship. We are a family in the name of God so why should we not think or talk to each other outside of the church? Some of the closest people in my life are those from within the church.
I think of how the disciples were and whenever I read the Bible I get the sense that they were like a family as well. Supporting each other and being there if one another was dealing with something. We refer to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, so shouldn't we act like it? Shouldn't we be able to forgive the way we would our birth siblings? I know I couldn't be angry at my brother for long, so why should I hold something against my spiritual brothers and sisters? I support my family through and through, so I should be support my church family as well. Family is important, no matter if it is a birth family, adoptive family or church family. God created us all as equals and I think he thinks of us as family as well, and why shouldn't we be? We are equal, we are family in the eyes God. We shouldn't be spreading rumors, treating each other with contempt, grudges and more. We need to act like a family.
No matter what one of us is going through we are all there supporting each other. We stand together as one, the way a family would. Parents of young children (babies) barely hold their children, everyone else within the church wants to hold the child. In fact myself and another one of the teens debate over who gets to hold Pastor's granddaughter. I think when it comes to church it needs to be like that, churches need to feel like a family inside and out. You cannot leave the church on Sunday and that be the end of the friendship/kinship. We are a family in the name of God so why should we not think or talk to each other outside of the church? Some of the closest people in my life are those from within the church.
I think of how the disciples were and whenever I read the Bible I get the sense that they were like a family as well. Supporting each other and being there if one another was dealing with something. We refer to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, so shouldn't we act like it? Shouldn't we be able to forgive the way we would our birth siblings? I know I couldn't be angry at my brother for long, so why should I hold something against my spiritual brothers and sisters? I support my family through and through, so I should be support my church family as well. Family is important, no matter if it is a birth family, adoptive family or church family. God created us all as equals and I think he thinks of us as family as well, and why shouldn't we be? We are equal, we are family in the eyes God. We shouldn't be spreading rumors, treating each other with contempt, grudges and more. We need to act like a family.
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