Why you belong here

The text just came through as I sit here in my hotel room, staring at this blank screen.

“We want you to come!” the text read, urging me to ditch my work and join them in their fun.  I smiled, marveling at this — this belonging.

I marvel a bit because I remember the first time I walked in to this church-planting conference. I remember that feeling, welling up a bit inside, against my will.

“I don’t really belong here.”

No one said it, no one did anything to merit it. I think it’s our fallen condition to automatically assume, in any new gathering or social situation, “I don’t really belong here.”[bctt tweet=”It’s our fallen condition to assume, “I don’t belong here.””]

Our reasons offered, most often subconsciously, are many. I don’t belong because …

1. They’re all married, and I’m not.
2. They have their lives together, and I don’t.
3. They all homeschool and I don’t.
4. They know their Bibles and I don’t.
5. They’re all stay-at-home moms and I work.
6. They’re all beautiful and I’m plain.
7. They dress this way and I don’t.
8. They’ve all known each other for a long time, and I’m new.
9. They talk a certain way and I don’t.

Blah blah blah.

And so we hold back. We remain reserved. We unknowingly pick out differences, stacking up a case of why we most certainly do not belong here.

I could share specifics of why I have often felt like I don’t belong in various contexts. In fact, I just wrote them out, but deleted them, because really — that’s not the point.

Here’s the point: When we have a faulty understanding of Christian Community, we will constantly be plagued by a sense that we don’t belong.

What do I mean?

We must know the difference between a CLIQUE, a CLUB, and CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.

A CLIQUE:

• Has undefined parameters. We know it’s a group, but it’s hard to put our finger on why it’s a group.
• It is self-serving. It exists only for the sake of making the people within the group feel better about themselves. Only members are welcome.
• It is impenetrable. You cannot join. Go away.
• Intimacy among members exists in order to reinforce what those members already believe. The whole point is to further reaffirm to ourselves that we are right.
• A clique communicates: WE ARE DESIRABLE.

A CLUB:

• Has defined parameters. You know what you need to do to join the club. You need to homeschool, or eat vegan, or love birdwatching. Whatever. You need to do something in order to join, but at least it’s clear.
• It exists to serve its members. There is a sense of encouraging and supporting each other, but only those within the club. Only members are welcome. 
• It is joinable, with requirements (dues, certain interests).
• Limited intimacy exists to support the limited common interest. There is camaraderie, but only within the limited confines of that shared interest. The expectation is that issues outside the common interest are off-limits.
• A club communicates: WE ARE UNIQUE.

A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY:

• Has defined parameters, but they are clear and simple: If you belong to Christ, you belong here.
• It exists to serve both its members and nonmembers. It is the only group where members are committed to serving its nonmembers. ALL ARE WELCOME. 
• It is freely joinable through faith in Jesus Christ. ALL children of God are included, invited, welcomed, received.
• FULL intimacy in each other’s lives through unity and diversity. There is no “off-limits” topic of conversation. There is an acknowledgement of the individual’s limitations and a readiness to live in vulnerable interdependence on others.
• The message of Christian Community: WE ARE INCOMPLETE.

Followers of Jesus Christ recognize, We are incomplete without each other. [bctt tweet=”Followers of Jesus recognize, “We are incomplete without each other.””]We need each other. So, if I understand what true Christian Community is, I can enter into any new situation with confidence and joy, taking genuine interest in the lives of others because I recognize that I need others and others need me. There is no fear, comparison, or judgment.

I can just be free to belong.

And so I’ll click off this computer, and go join my new friends. We are different, we are all unique, we are from different cultures and parts of the country. We have different spiritual gifts and different passions and convictions. But we are followers of Jesus Christ, and we belong to each other. I will go now and enter in.

How might you enter in more fully to Christian Community today? Where are you tempted to believe that you do not belong? How has your view of community gotten mixed up with cliques and clubs? I pray we all grow in reflecting the glory of God through our relationships with each other.

If you are a follower of Jesus: You belong here. And even if you’re somewhere along the way in this journey of faith: You’re welcome here. 

{Thank you for being here. Thanks for reading.}