I Love the Church, and I Hope You Will Too

     I love the church. I am inveterate and incurable lover of the church. It thrills me beyond expression to serve the church. 

     Although I am also involved in some parachurch ministries, I wouldn’t trade my ministry in the church for all of them combined. The church takes first place in my ministry priorities, and all the parachurch ministries I serve are subordinate to, and grow out of, my ministry in the church.

     In fact, my whole life has been lived in the church. I  was born into a family who found their cultural identity as church-going Christians.  Our primary social interactions - in the church.  Our primary community service - through the church.  Our primary interpretation of culture and news of the day - with the church.

     We were those “every time the church doors open” kind people.  There was no guilting us into it.  There was no need for enticements.  We didn’t go to be entertained.  We just didn’t see the world working for us any other way.  Loving God and being His church was like breathing.

     In a short series of upcoming posts, I’m going to outline some biblical reasons that I love the church.  They have surfaced over a lifetime of thinking deeply about who I am and why God made me this way.