Attending the same event with other
Christians will not guarantee that fellowship occurs. Being a fellow member of
a church is not an assurance that fellowship will be found there. I know a man
in his forties who is single, a professional, handsome, intelligent, gregarious
and longs to be part of a believing community that worships with sincerity and
reverence. He has looked everywhere. He has come to the conclusion that he does
not fit.
He has tried numerous churches, and it is always the same. He walks in
the door, receives a cursory welcome, sits through the service and no one
speaks to him and that's that. That is fellowship of an indifferent and
hypothetical kind. It is valueless. That is not to say that meeting regularly
with believers is not mandated or helpful. This man is not attending a local
church presently.
Do you understand him? Surely, the response to him is not a
demand that he should be @church without excuse, without reason, right now? Christ
communicated guilt when it was deserved for willful sin. He spoke with
compassionate grace to all who were struggling with all the issues that could
be resolved instantly through relationship with him. This man will be folded
into a congregation by one or two others who have tried and have learned to
understand him, and deliberately come to him to share his journey.
These Christians will come to him unguarded,
authentically concerned about him and his well being and who will spend immediate
meaningful time and later more time to encourage, to follow up, to be available
to God's Spirit for anything further.
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