let's have church!

Too often, we think of church as someplace we go on Sunday morning and and occasionally on Sunday nights. And if we are really good Christians, we go on Wednesday night for prayer meeting.  I know there are a lot of places that don't even have church on Sunday nights. We even have a church in our small parish that is actually going to vote on whether or not they will continue having Sunday night services! That just floored me when I heard it. It's hard to imagine that we would even consider not having church on Sunday nights because our attendance wasn't big enough. If only 10 people came, it would be still be beneficial to those 10 to have church!

Our problem is that we have too many other things to do and too many other distractions in the world. So church has become something that we just kind of 'fit into our schedule'. We go if there isn't a ball game or a dance recital or something good on television. We have let the world become what is important in our lives and we have started pushing our spiritual lives to the wayside.

If we are going to grow in our spiritual walk with Christ and if we are going to become closer and more intimate with our Lord, we have to put Him first in ALL things. Church needs to be our number one priority on Sundays, Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. We need to be excited about the privilege we have of being able to worship openly and freely. We need to have the attitude that we get to go to church instead of  we have to go to church. 

We started an extra 'prayer and share meeting' on Tuesday or Thursday nights in our congregation.We hold our meetings in someones home and we just gather together (everyone is invited) and read scripture, share praises or problems and then we pray. We pray for each other, for those in need and  most importantly we pray for the lost. Our small group has doubled since our first meeting and we have had such fabulous times of sharing and prayer. Some people don't understand why we would meet for a 'fourth' time during the week, but they don't understand how powerful the gathering together of fellow Christians can be! We have grown closer as a body of Christ and are beginning to reach out more to others. We have learned to be more sensitive to those who are hurting or in need. We have developed a deeper burden for those who are lost. We feel like we are growing in our relationship with Jesus and therefore we will be better able to minister to those around us.

I challenge anyone who is ready to take that next step to a closer relationship with our Savior to begin a 'prayer and share meeting' in your own church fellowship. There is no better time than now to start really learning what church is all about. It's not about us. It's not about  meeting just 3 times a week. It's about a new excitement in our lives as Christ begins to draw us and beckon to us to spend more and more time with Him. It's all about Jesus.

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto

love and to good works: Not forsaking the

assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of

some is; but exhorting one another: and so

much the more, as ye see the day approaching"

(Hebrews 10:24-25)