A bit long but very important...

“Every church has its problems.” We say that all the time; sometimes we say it to justify the glaring deficiencies within our own churches, to defend ourselves against criticism. Sometimes we say it as a way of reminding ourselves that—while some churches are definitely more godly than others—every church needs God’s grace in order to grow and function. No congregation is exempt from the baggage that sinful human beings carry with them when they enter the doors of the church.

One thing that my time at Biola has taught me (particularly in my Theology classes) is that my perspective on the church was very unbiblical. Growing up in the church, it was so easy to be both highly critical and overly cynical in my attitude towards it. I felt truly convicted by the teaching of my professors, reminding us of Christ’s promises to protect and perfect His bride.

Who am I to deny the love that Christ has for His church, so that He gave His life to redeem her from her sin? Who am I to deny the hope that the church has in His promises, to ignore His declaration that “the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt 16:18)?

This morning, our Cantonese pastor, Pastor Ho, preached to us in the English service. Normally, when he crosses over to our part of the congregation, he brings an interpreter and preaches in Chinese. Today, however, he opted to use English. I was telling Grace how much I appreciate his willingness to use a language that’s uncomfortable for him, in order to meet us where we are. Even our new Mandarin pastor has used English during second service, even though it limits his ability to express himself fully to us.

Anyways, I started thinking about all of the different ways that God has really blessed me through my church, and I put together a short list:

1. Adelphe – Several inspired, proactive women in our church decided it was high time we started a women’s ministry at FCBC, so they got talked it over and got organized. We meet once a month, enjoying cute decorations, hilarious games, great worship, and yummy snacks (some of those women can REALLY bake). But even more than the encouraging prayer time ad inspiring messages, the thing I take the most delight in is getting to know women in the church that I would normally have little or no contact with otherwise. We get such a beautiful array of women from the Mandarin, Cantonese, and English congregations, ranging from college age up to a few of the senior citizens. We come from all different walks of life and life experiences that we get to share with each other. Some of the women have such amazing testimonies. I feel so blessed to get to know the women of Adelphe.

2. ROCK – I remember when I first came into ROCK. I believe we averaged maybe 8 to 10 people on Friday nights—on a good night, that is. It seemed like we were hemorrhaging people as we went. Even though I was a new freshman, I ended up leading worship on my third week. Sometimes it was really disheartening, especially when I would hear other people complain about ROCK. Frankly, a lot of the criticism came from people who weren’t even coming anymore, which I found even more frustrating. But there were some people who remained faithful and never gave up hope. Over the last three years, ROCK has gone through a lot of changes—new sponsor, new counselors, new groups of collegians. Through it all, I’ve been so encouraged by God’s amazing faithfulness to our fellowship. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for ROCK because I grew up around ROCKers. We seem to always have so much fun just being together and hanging out, going out late at night for food or finding time to go bowling and karaoke. It’s been fun building relationships with each other, and also pushing each other to continue to grow in the Lord.

3. Chinese class – This is along a similar vein as Adelphe. Being in the Mandarin class has given me a chance to interact with people I wouldn’t normally get to know: mainly some of the older women from the Mandarin congregation. It’s so much fun to walk around church and say hello to them, practicing (or butchering) the little bit of Mandarin that I’ve learned. It’s also really neat to see their willingness to serve God in this ministry.

4. The Faithfulness of God’s servants – Our church has gone through a lot of rough patches over the last couple years. Right now we’re searching for several new pastors to lead us. At the same time, we’re making a lot of changes, trying to figure out what we do well and what needs improvement. I’ve been (pleasantly) surprised by the openness that our congregation has had (at least comparatively) towards these changes. During these difficult times, we’re bound to lose at least a few people from our congregation. But there are those who have remained and have continued to serve faithfully—leading and planning worship, preparing training classes for the teachers, serving food to the seniors every week, remodeling the bathrooms, so on and so forth. Whether we have acknowledged them or not, I think many unlikely persons have stepped up and volunteered in the effort. The church does not belong solely to the pastor, or to its deacons, important though they are our spiritual shepherds. The church, though, is the people of God who come together as the visible body of Christ, so—at least in my mind—responsibility for the health and growth of the church belongs primarily to us, the congregation. And it’s a blessing to see that there are those who are willing to work hard together for the sake of our church.

Now that I’ve begun this train of thought, I can think of several other examples of God’s abundance in my life through the blessings of my church. From our concern in missions to our commitment to God’s Word, there are so many things to be thankful for. FCBC, like any other church, is far from perfect. I will be the first to admit to that. But praise God for the faithfulness, power, and grace that He has shown in and through my church family!