At Home in the Church

How should the church function? How can we help it do so?

A church is a "house of prayer for all people." A church is a building. A church is a social center. A church is a home, to some people more meaningful and special than their own family home. A church—its appearance, its music, its message, its people—is a memory.

My childhood church is an indelible memory, a small white wooden building, a social center, a place where I learned and grew and worshiped. It was the core of my life, more special to me than any of the six different houses our family lived in during that time. In contrast, the one and only church I knew seemed stable and enduring, like the mountains that surrounded our Colorado town.

Toward the south, the unmatched view of the majestic San Juan range spread many miles as I looked from east to west. Those beautiful mountains were my mother’s favorite view. Her resting place till Jesus returns also views that range of mountains. I cherish the future scene of her resurrection when she will rise to see her Lord and that same glorious view. Her church friends read these words at her graveside: "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth" (Ps 121:1). Church and mountains—tangible evidences implanted deep within me of the God of creation and of salvation.

One side of our white church was the school room where I had the privilege of being a student in the seventh and eighth grades. At the end of grade eight, two of us graduated in that church home. (In time, I changed places and taught that same church school for a year.) Because there was no baptistry there, my baptism took place on a Christmas Sabbath in a church on the other side of town. But my church family was there to support me.

Certainly there were transgressions and gossip and distress among the folks who attended my hometown church, but that kind of information never seemed to reach my childhood ears. I loved my church family. They loved me, and they showed it. In my own family’s house there was considerable unrest, distress, and what people today call dysfunction. How thankful I am that my church family was so warm and caring. As I think of it, my life likely would have been far different without the influence of that church family. Their interest and encouragement were strong motivators toward my interest in further education and developing talents.

I’ve heard about a "generation gap" since becoming an adult. I didn’t know such a label existed back in my home church. The grownups were conscious of being interested in the younger ones and keeping them occupied. Every Sabbath afternoon the Missionary Volunteer meeting was held. I remember that activity the most. I did all types of things there—played piano solos, read stories, gave talks, acted in plays. That’s where I served my internship for a future which has included quite a few public presentations.

My World Grows Larger.
When I was sixteen I went 300 miles away to Campion Academy where I spent my last two high school years. Church there was the chapel in the administration building. We dressed up and went into the same building where we attended classes on weekdays, and I loved it. I felt at home there. Church continued to be the highlight of every week for me.

Summer camps were a delight, with sunset campfires and church in rustic buildings filled with the pungent aroma of pine trees. Later I was girls’ director for the same camp I’d enjoyed as a junior. Church as an institution, with its various offerings for children, teens, and young adults, was becoming increasingly important for me.

Union College gave me the memory of the College View Church. I sang in choirs there. I have warm thoughts of the relaxation accompanying church vespers on Friday nights after very busy weeks as a college student.

My church family was there to support me.

After college came career and marriage and children. We loved the close friendships in the little Adelphi Church on Riggs Road in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Later we found very special "young married" activities and camaraderie in the Silver Spring Church. That’s where our tiny twin sons, Wayne and Wesley, were dedicated, dressed in their light green suits and caps. Baby dedications are a memorable church blessing.

My Family Grows Larger.
Our twins have an older sister and two younger brothers. But we had only the first three, aged four and two, when we moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan. Church immediately played a significant role in the transition experience. As we traveled from Washington, D.C. to Michigan, our 4-year-old somehow leaned abruptly onto the sharpened end of a pencil and punctured the iris of her eye. We were devastated.

The first day in our new location we spent in doctors’ offices. Our first Sabbath we were in a hospital pensively waiting while an iridectomy was performed. It was a delicate eye operation which was needed as a step toward possibly saving her sight. Our new church family, whom we hadn’t yet met, was praying that day for "the newcomers whose little girl is undergoing an eye operation." (God answered those prayers and blessed her with 20/20 vision.) For days after that, church members were knocking at our door frequently. They’d introduce themselves, bring food, special gifts for the patient, toys for the twins.

My eyes burn with tears as I remember the kindness of this "big" new church. Do you see why we’ve often said that Pioneer Memorial Church may be large, but that doesn’t keep it from being very friendly? What a blessing our relationship with that church has been to us. We’ve attended many worship services, weddings, and funerals there. We were present for the dedication of its beautiful pipe organ some years ago. Its music has often been a foretaste of heaven to me. And we’ve been challenged and comforted by many stirring sermons. Much of our lives has been centered around our involvement with our church. I remember one tiny son, each time we drove near the church, almost singing as he’d say, eyes dancing, "That’s my Sabbaschool, that’s my Sabbaschool!" We’re finding joyful satisfaction in observing the delight that a precious 2-year-old grandson is taking in that church—his church and "Sabbaschool."

Belonging to the Family.
The church—a building, a social center, a memory, a home away from home. How is it where you worship? Just as there are dysfunctional families everywhere you look, there are dysfunctional churches. How do we change this state of things? How can we change a church from dysfunctional to delightful? The answer must be very personal.

I am the church. You are the church.

When mother, father, each child, each occupant of a home senses that he or she has a role in the makings of a happy home. Wise parents put energy and prayerful effort into providing a satisfying experience for each child. They give each one tender, loving care coupled with experiences and discipline which will nurture personal worth and responsibility. Each family member must learn to be conscious of the well-being of each other member.

Just so in the church each has a dual role to fill. On the one hand we bask in the blessings of belonging and on the other we function in the managing of the church as we continually seek to maintain a friendly, pleasing atmosphere so that others in the church family may also experience this blessing of belonging. Each One is a committee of one to greet others warmly and show a sensitive interest in the needs and activities of the other worshipers week by week, as they also fill joyfully and faithfully whatever tasks they may be assigned in the operation of church services and activities.

My Eternal Church Home.
Our church exists because Jesus, our Creator and our Redeemer, loves us dearly and wants church to be both a special place and a special on-going experience where we learn by instruction and example who He is and what it means to grow together in developing His character. "Live together in harmony, live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you. Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of one another than you do of yourselves" (Philippians 2:3-4, Phillips).

Won’t it be a great day when we will have a face-to-face relationship with our Saviour? All my various church homes have contributed to my desire to be with Him there. The indescribable beauty and splendor of God’s throne is the center of the New Jerusalem that will be our church home throughout eternity.