So far, God has used eight churches to mold me into the woman I am today. Each has played a part of my spiritual growth and each has been a blessing. I grew up in a small hometown church. My parents did not attend but I went on my own with an aunt and uncle. This church loved me and never made me feel out of place because I did not attend with my parents. I accepted Christ in this church. Everyone stepped in and parented my spiritual growth until I graduated from high school. When Dwayne accepted Christ in college, we attended a local church in town. We were married by the pastor of that church and as newly married adults they helped us lay a foundation for our life with Christ. When we graduated we joined a church in Broken Arrow, OK where we moved. It was a large church, but it was here we developed lasting relationships with so many people. It is here that God spiritually grew me. It was here Dwayne was ordained as a deacon and a minister. This church supported us through seminary. They have invested in our lives and our ministry and they are always a part of what we do. We attended two churches in Seminary; these two churches gave Dwayne the opportunity to do some ministry work that prepared him for what God had in store for us. One pastor met with him weekly to mentor him. The next church was our first church in the ministry, it was in Montana. It is like your first child, you don’t love them more than you do your other children but there is a special bond from sharing first time experiences together. This church taught me faith, trust, true fellowship, on my face prayer, unity as a body, and how miraculously God works. Our next church brought us back to Oklahoma. This church taught me forgiveness, healing, spiritual growth, encouragement, and openness. Now we are at Fusion. It has been a new journey for us as we learn to reach out differently to a generation that is walking away from religion. I am learning to accept people where they are and for who they are. I am learning how to minister to those who question whether there is a God. I am learning to teach those who know very little about how to walk with the Lord. I am experiencing living in the freedom of Christ and to be a follower of Him only.
I can’t help but wonder how different I would be without each of these churches. I know that I have struggled in my life with self discipline and I doubt if I would have studied and grown on my own. You would never be able to convince me that I would have experienced God on my own, the same way I have as a part of a body of believers. I am not devaluing the fact that personal time of study and prayer is not vital to my Christian walk. However, my corporate learning and worship is of equal importance. I am very thankful for each of the churches God has allowed me to be a part of. What about you? How has God used the church to mold you? If you do not attend a church, let me encourage you to find one where God can teach you and grow you according to His will. We are not meant to walk our Christian journey alone.
Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
Hebrew 10:24-25
3 comments:
Sometimes I feel like Church is that christian song that talks about the plastic steeple and is it all just an act. I feel like Fusion blows that mold out of the water. Fusion has taught me acceptance of ANYONE! I have totally changed my perseption of people. I do not judge at first sight now. (well, it's a work in progress.
Weather up or down everyone at Fusion is there for me. It's true.
I have really only been a part of 2 churches and they have both been huge stepping stones in my walk. I attended Zena Baptist Church starting at the end of my Junior year in high school. It is mostly older people but they were all so nice and I went with some of my friends and shortly later my mom. It was at this church that I accepted Christ and claimed Him as my Lord and Savior. I was also baptized there. I felt instantly changed and began to want to "clean up" my life. There were many sad and difficult moments that I experience but those people and my mom were there for me God was too. Then I came to Fusion. Fusion overwhelmed me at first because there was so many wonderful things and people. But it began to feel like a family. For the first time I really was able to say that I felt like I belonged. Fusion has taught me that you don't have to go through things alone that God is always there and that there are people in your life that are there too. At Fusion I feel as if everyone is accepted...we love the people that often other churches choose not to love and accept....we are richly blessed by those people and those other churches have missed out on so much. One other important thing is that Jared and I have learned a lot as a married couple! We have grown so much as individuals and as a couple. God has been our center and we have a stronger bond because of that. We have had the privilage to be around other couples that have given us inspiration and encouragement. There is so much more....I could go on forever. I am just so thankful that God brought us to Fusion.
We are looking for a new church home right now. It is many times a challenging thing to do. We recently moved to a new town after 20 years in our old house. Lots of choices to make in the process proved to be exhausting at times for these old timers. I am praying to discover just the right place where God can grow us at this stage in our life and also where we can serve Him
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