Easy Attendance
It’s easy to be a church outsider who stays on the fringes. It’s convenient to go in and out of programs and services, treating the community of faith like an optional event to attend.
Those statements aren’t meant to be presumptuous or judgmental. They’re autobiographical.
The first four years of my time at The Crossing involved the non-committal dance of in-and-out attendance—getting just close enough to see some things, but always at the safe distance of an observer. I would attend a worship service, sit alone, and jet out as quickly as possible to avoid the traffic in the parking lot. No conversations. No serving. Nothing. It was easy to be invisible and anonymous, yet that ease paved the slow path to isolation and atrophy.
Here’s the brutal, wonderful truth that God used to give me a wakeup call: Church is not an event to attend. Church is not a program to observe. Church is a people—a body—to belong to and to grow within.
And it’s a body that wouldn’t be the same without you.
Life in the Body
The early followers of Jesus embraced this community identity, living their lives together as members of the body of Christ:
Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
Romans 12:4-5
Notice two important themes here. First, in the church there is unity amidst diversity: “all the parts do not have the same function.” The body of Christ is not meant to be uniform—it’s meant to be united. If you find yourself feeling like a church “outsider,” know that your uniqueness is not a liability but a design feature.
Second, notice how the different members of the body of Christ are “individually members of one another.” When we belong to a church, we don’t belong to the building, the leadership, or the logo—we belong to Jesus and to one another.
Because we belong to Jesus and to one another, we don’t simply join the church—we grow within it. Here’s how the Bible illustrates this growth together:
But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.
Ephesians 4:15-16
Do you see the sense of mutuality here? We grow in our relationship with Jesus by growing together. We are fitted and knit together. We are built up in love because we belong to Jesus and to one another.
This picture of the body of Jesus points to the powerful truth that I desperately needed to not only see, but to experience:
The church is not something we attend as much as it’s something we belong to and grow within. Because that’s true, the church is not the same without you.
Needy & Needed
According to the body of Christ imagery, you need other people to keep your faith and to grow in your faith. In our cultural moment, obsessed with individual autonomy and self-actualization, this is a big truth to embody. But don’t miss the other truth that the Bible assumes with the metaphor of Jesus’s body: other people need you.
Who might need you in the church? Here are just a handful of real people who God wants to love through someone like you:
- The elementary-aged child who will one day teach a class of elementary students in a local school.
- The skeptic who, ten years from now, will usher others into a faith in Jesus.
- The addict who will not only be healed by God’s grace but will also be used by God to heal others.
- The lonely outsider who longs for someone to share the gift of listening.
We all belong to the church as people who need others and who are needed by others—not because we’re inherently great, but because God is unfathomably gracious.
That sounds wonderful, yet being needy and needed comes at a cost. Belonging and growing within the body of Jesus is not always convenient or comfortable.
It means lingering a bit longer than you’d like after a worship service to talk to those around you. It means sending an email or filling out a form online to serve or join a small group. Or it might involve a quick and simple visit to the Welcome Desk to find out how you can belong.
These costs can feel like real inconveniences. But aren’t they worth it? Instead of going down the slow, one-way street of being invisible and anonymous, you can be seen, known, and loved on the two-way street of life together. Yes, a life connected to the church is messier. But it’s also so much more meaningful.
Belonging to the Beautiful Body of Jesus
Soccer (or “football” for the true fans) is the most popular game in the world. It also carries one of the most compelling nicknames for a team sport: The Beautiful Game. People describe soccer this way because of the dynamic movement and synergy on display when a team plays as a united whole—the power and impact of the team is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s simply beautiful.
When we belong to and grow within the church, we live as the Beautiful Body of Christ.
We are more than the sum of our individual lives—we are members of Jesus and of one another. There is a united and vibrant life to behold when we are joined together and growing in love. We are powerfully, lovingly beautiful.
It’s easy to stay in the position of an isolated outsider, looking at the Body of Jesus from a distance. But, while that separation is easy, it’s not good or meaningful. Whatever your local church may be, it’s a different place without you. And it will also be a different, more beautiful place with you.
How will God use your belonging to cultivate more beauty within the body of Jesus?
Sometimes belonging to the body of Jesus starts with an invitation. Learn about what's going on at The Crossing this fall and think about who you can invite to join you!
