7 Days of HopeSample

We are Family

By Pastor Lori Champion

We are all looking for our “Why.” The local church’s “Why” is family.  It’s what I most appreciate about the church. If you were my first-time guest at a weekend service, you may be distracted or even annoyed by me telling you the stories of the people in our church.

“That couple over there…they had split up, filed for divorce, but they thought it would be great to take their child to an Easter service. Now, they are saved, and their marriage is restored. They are part of our family.”

Or, “That young woman on stage…looks like she has the world by the tail, but she came to us as a broken and lonely girl and found her gift, and now serves God with it. She’s part of our family.”

I could go on and on sharing family stories. It’s the reward of being planted in the House of God.

We didn’t start Celebration Church because we needed a job. We started it because the local church is a family – a family that shared the gospel on the Sunday my husband, at 16 years old, attended for the first time with his neighbors, and he gave his life to Jesus. The church came around me, my mom and little brothers when my father died. The church surrounded Joe and I in prayer when I was a new mom, diagnosed with cancer, when I didn’t have the faith to pray for myself.

If you think the church is the place where your favorite communicator speaks or your favorite worship team sings, you’re missing out on the REAL church.

The best part of this crisis may be that you get to know your church as more than a place you attend, but it becomes a family you belong to. These can be lonely times. It’s easy to feel isolated. But “God sets the solitary in families” (Ps. 68:6). He isn’t satisfied with loner life. We are going to get through this together. We are going to spread the Love of our Father. We are going to grow in every way. That’s what family does.