Today’s blog post is by Paul Norris. Paul works as a Software Consultant in the fashion retail industry. He is passionate about the church and seeing people from all walks of life come to know Jesus. Paul has 1 wife, 4 children and 7 tarantulas.
The church as family
Families are amazing things. They are for most people, what they are born into, a place where they grow and are nurtured, a place of safety. Children in families that are functioning well have a place where they can learn, they can push the boundaries of what is and isn’t acceptable in a loving environment and be guided and shown how to fulfil all of their latent potential. It is not only the children in a family that learn, as adults we learn when we are trying to make a marriage work, when we are bringing up children and learning to function with all the different personalities that make up a family.
However not all families are like that, unfortunately for many, families can be a difficult place, a place of instability even of fear, a place where no nurturing takes place and there is no guidance as to how to grow and succeed.
The Bible talks about church being a family:
2 Corinthians 6:18 “and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (ESV)
Dealing with the difficult times
Now depending on what your family situation is, this can conjure up negative as well as positive connotations. However the church family is a place that can bring healing and security no matter what your background, you can learn and be nurtured in a way that does allow you to fulfill all you were meant to be.
Our family joined Jubilee Church Solihull in the midst of one of the most difficult times of our lives. We weren’t sure that we even wanted to be part of a church family anymore but, deep down we knew that it was the correct thing to do and slowly piece by piece we were put back together. We were accepted, we were loved and we were guided back to health. The church family has become once again one of the most important parts of our lives. Thank you Jubilee Church!
Being a part of a church family, just like a biological family, brings life, it re-awakens that desire to belong and it is how God brings healing, it brings security and allows us to honour one another and build one another up.
Family is God’s idea and so when it is done His way, it it brings wholeness, freedom and healing, there is no substitute for family.
Alive and growing
But families are not a static thing, they are alive and growing. We are not a family that is called to live apart from those around us, but a family on a mission. We are called as a church family to open that loving family out to everyone around us. Telling people about the amazing thing that God has done for us in allowing Jesus to die in our place for our rebellion towards him and given us the gift of being in a relationship with him forever. To be all that we were meant to be.
One of the ways we are about to serve one another, in this reaching out, is the Alpha course. If you know someone who would love to hear more about Jesus and His family and would benefit from being able to chat with real freedom about that, then bring them along to the Tap and Tandoor, Warwick Road, Solihull at 7.30pm on 14th January for free food and an introduction to the family of God.
