searching for what it means to be the church

Our family recently traveled to Cleveland to visit family.  Our trip to Ohio reminded us of how much has changed in our lives since our visit last summer.  A visit that unexpectedly gave our already wrestling hearts momentum.

Last  July we traveled to Cleveland, along with all my extended family, to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday.  I was eight months pregnant and truth be told, a little grumpy about the trip.  The plan was for our family to stay at a "retreat center"... in a bunk bed... with no air conditioning.  I realize by admitting this publicly I risk sounding like a spoiled brat, and that judgment is deserving.  As we followed our driving directions into the city the scenery began to change and the urban landscape again set me on edge.  I surveyed my surroundings as I exited the car.  I wondered how we were going to have a "vacation" here and how were we going to make sure our four adventurous children were safe in such a sketchy place.   These are the moments when I am thankful that facebook does not have a running movie of the thoughts in my mind.  Although I am sure I was not the most pleasant person to be around at this point in the story.

But something began to happen the longer we stayed in Cleveland,  my heart started to see why God had brought us to The Community House.  There are some permanent residents at The Community House.  They are living everyday with the purpose to share the Gospel by working in and building relationships with people in the community.  Kevin and I spent many hours talking with the men and women living there... staying up way too late but the blessing far out weighed any lack of sleep.  The house sits on a property in the heart of downtown Cleveland.  It was once a Catholic church and school with housing for nuns and the priest.  It is now an place for people of all denominations to worship Jesus, to host outreach events for the community, to house a locally owned coffee shop, a charter school, a library, a Christian dance studio, a community garden, all sorts of classes and bible studies for the community, and a home for veterans trying to get back on their feet.  And I'm sure more.  We were in awe of how there were so many ways for people to use their gifts and talents to glorify Jesus Christ.  I love one story we heard of a woman who loved to organize and loved literature.  She used those gifts by spending hours upon hours to set up the library and create a cataloging and borrowing system, a library that is now a blessing to the community.

By the end of our week there we wished we could stay longer.  It is a special place.  The entire drive home was spent pondering what would something like this look like where we live.  What are people in need of in our town?  How could we use our gifts and talents from God to glorify Him and to share the gospel?  What would it look like if our family started being the church?  What would change if we adopted the mindset of being missionaries right where we are already living?  What would it look like if we lived the Gospel 24/7?  Those questions brought some changes to our home.  Some were easy and some extremely difficult.  We continue to ponder these questions and seek out what the answers look like for our team.

My cousin, Ben, and his wife, Olivia, live in downtown Cleveland.  They are living out their faith by choosing to live in a neighborhood most people would run away from.  Ben recently wrote something on facebook and I asked him if I could share it on this blog.  I think it is a great way to end this post.



"For people to identify with the church, the church must first identify with them. God became flesh and 
made his dwelling among us because he knew that was the way to reach us. Christians must become 
unceasingly present in a community to actually have communion with them. My idea? Christians don't 
flee heavily populated areas but move into them together, and then just listen, spend time with the 
people that live on their street, invite God's grace, follow Jesus. Then the church inevitably becomes a 
part of someone's life regardless of whether they went to a church service or a food pantry or free meal 
or vbs or whatever. Unless the church is present with the people they want to serve/reach, then their 
only hope is competing with entertainers and service providers, and most churches lose that fight."