been His plan from the beginning. Should we meet together as a
community around Jesus? Yes, constantly. Where? Everywhere. You
pick. He wants our hearts; He doesn’t care about the address where it
happens.
I spoke to a guy once who said the church had hurt his feelings, so he
was leaving it. I told him, “You can’t leave the church, you are the
church.” That guy is part of our church. Your church is part of our church
too. Even if you don’t think you go to a church, you’re part of our church.
At our church there is nothing to join, just Jesus. This is probably why
Jesus told His friends, where two or more people who follow Him go,
He’s there.
I get asked all the time, “Where do you go to church?” As you might
imagine, my answer is always the same: I go to our church. I’m not trying
to dodge the question when I say this; I’m trying to be accurate. I learned
this at a croc drop.
There’s a pastor friend of mine who doesn’t really have his own church.
Instead, for years he brought together people in his community from lots
of different churches. He just wanted them to be one the way Jesus told
His Father He wanted us to be one.
There were a couple thousand people who came together every month
or two, and my friend asked me to speak at one of the gatherings. They
didn’t really need a name for what they were doing. They’re ordinary
folks, like you and me, who think it’s enough just to be together, give
thanks to God, and leave all the names and labels and distractions behind.
Sadly, I received a call from my friend a couple of days before I came
out to speak. He told me he’d just received word that his son, who was
eight at the time, had been diagnosed with leukemia. There’s no good
version of this disease, but his son got a bad version.
“Oh no. Shouldn’t we cancel the event?” I said into the heavy phone