Hi Friends,

Do you have a good church family? Although my parents were nine years apart, they grew up in the same church. If you marry someone from your church that’s probably about the easiest way to make sure you have a strong church family. My sister did that too. But I didn’t marry someone from my church. In fact, I didn’t marry someone from my state! And in our 29 years of marriage we’ve moved states six times. Church family has not been automatic for us. Plus, we spent years in huge churches, which I sometimes regret — especially now that I know the gift of being in a small, committed church.

I don’t know what the litmus test is for when you have officially achieved a church family, but whatever it is I am confident, based on the following story, that I’d pass.

A couple of families from my church also send their kids to the homeschool hybrid where I teach. This means that I see quite a few little faces multiple times each week. However, last weekend we were in Naples through Sunday afternoon.

On Tuesday of this week, a little kindergarten boy from church was passing by me at lunch. I struck up a conversation with him.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Good,” he said.

“Gosh,” I said. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I wondered where you were on Sunday.”

It made my day. If a kindergarten boy notices when you miss, then you are probably in the right church!

But it’s not merely nice to be missed, we are called to be invested in the local body of believers. Some ministries won’t allow you to be involved unless you are an active member of a local church. Another I know went terribly off the rails when this wasn’t a prerequisite. In addition, “online church” was unfortunately normalized amidst the nonsense of 2020.

In contrast, a new friend of mine told me how an invitation to church changed his life. He went from being in a terrible place in his own marriage to leading a young-marrieds Sunday School class. Later he went to seminary and became a pastor. It all started with “Bring a Friend to Church” Sunday.

I also love the story (not sure where it originated) of the guy who invited his co-worker to church. The co-worker responded grumpily, “The church is full of hypocrites.”

“Yes,” the guy agreed, “But there’s always room for one more.”

I’m so thankful for my church, and I have had quite a few guests join me, but there’s always room for one more.

I hope you are in a church that exemplifies John 13:35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

With Love,

Kristie