The church we had the opportunity to serve and serve with in the Dominican Republic just experienced a lose. A young man (early 30s) who was a part of the leadership team of the church passed away on Sunday.
He became suddenly ill the second day we were in the DR. After several days of inconclusive tests he was moved to the capital for more tests. It took 2 more weeks before a diagnosis. A tumor in his lungs–cancer. After it was determined the cancer had spread and there was nothing that could be done medically, he was released. He passed into the presence of the Lord less than two days later.
The young man didn’t have much family (he was engaged to be married) but the church was his family.
They were with him throughout the time in hospital–each day several would make the hour long trip to spend time with him. He didn’t have insurance–the church (though not having much) took his expenses as their expenses. When he was home, the church family was beside him the whole time, feeding, caring, singing and praying.
That is a great example of what the church should be–not an organization but a family. A caring community of people dedicated to the Lord and committed to each other.
We seem to have little or no problem taking responsibility and caring for our blood relative family. Why do you think we have greater difficulty doing the same for spiritual family?
Good question.
It seems that those who are “connected” are care for fairly well. But not necessarily like family.
So it seems to always come back to–how to get people truly connected and how to step into the lives of others.
Well then…we’ve tried teaching and teaching and teaching on this with limited success with no widespread adoption.
So, what do we do? What works? Is there anything that works? Or have we cloistered so pervasively that we can’t see beyond the fenceposts of our pods?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find a way to expand the family?
Priorities
Purpose
Passion
Do we see relationships as a priority?
Can we clearly explain the purpose?
Are we passionate about people?
If we answer “no” to any of these questions–we have a major problem.
If we answer “yes” and still find ourselves in the place we are, then we need to ask the questions again.
If we say “yes” the next question is–what are we willing to change? When are we willing to change it? Where do we start?
This is where we seem to get bogged down (maybe we do have Bog Turtles).