Saturday, November 26, 2011

Brothers and Sisters for Whom I Feel Sorrow

For much of my life I assumed, without giving it much thought, that all Christians regularly meet with church families on a regular basis. I thought all believers were, to one degree or another, connected to a local body. It was an assumption based in the Christian culture but not in reality. Frankly, it just never crossed my mind that some Christians were not gathering on a regularly with other Christians.

I now realize that many Christians are not part of any sort of local body. They may see other Christians here and there, but they do not regularly gather with anybody. The reasons for this are many; some seem legitimate while others do not. I will say this: most are not being disobedient. Rather, most simply have not found other Christians who meet in an edifying manner.

These are my brothers and sisters in Christ that I feel sorry for. This is not pity, but rather sorrow. Life is difficult enough even with a supportive, loving church family. To venture through life's challenges without this sort of care must be extremely difficult.

Do you know brothers and sisters in this situation? How do they handle it? What has led to it?

As Christians, we can help each other in this. If we know those with no church home, we can help by simply trying to get to know them better and provide loving support. Many of these Christians are extremely lonely. They need Christian friends. We can all provide that.

I don't mean for this post to seem sappy or sentimental. This is a real struggle that many Christians face. Let's help when and where we can.

3 comments:

Heather said...

I have to say that we are in that situation to a certain extent. My family lives back in the town that I grew up in (after several years away), and my mom still attends the church I grew up in, and is actively involved in it. I do go to the church semi-regularly, but do not feel like it is the church for me. I am drawn to smaller churches, and more contemporary services (my church is about as baptist as they come :-)). However, I don't feel like I can leave a church that I grew up in, even if I dread going there each week, and subsequently choose to stay home every couple of weeks. It is definitely a balance of trying to be involved in a fellowship, and also trying to break away from something you have grown up in. I don't think this is exactly what you are speaking of, but feel like my family is moving in this direction, and it isn't a good thing.

Eric said...

Heather,

Yours is a tough situation. You are included in the folks I'm talking about in this post. Anyone struggling is part of those I feel sorrow for. Your particular church situation is more complicated than most, but it's still what I was talking about. My only suggestion is to continue to lean on the Lord. He sometimes takes us through spiritual lonely times for our benefit. I hope you eventually find the deep relationships you are seeking.

Alan Knox said...

Heather,

I noticed on your profile that you are from Maine. I have some good friends near Portland, ME who are in a similar situation as you. Is that close to you?

-Alan