‘Our churches are led by people all here to serve however we can’
MOST of us will have hopefully filled out the Census in the past few weeks, this questionnaire that tells us who makes up our nation, lists all our similarities, all our differences, who we are, where we work, where we live, what we believe.
All of these things that define who we are are wrapped up into a questionnaire that will inform policy, decisions in government and so on for years to come.
As I was going through it and selecting my religion I noticed the description of Christian which included, Catholic, Church of England, Baptist, etc, or any other denomination and I was reminded again about the fact that as far as God is concerned He only has one church.
For all our differences in practice, style differences in buildings, whether we meet in homes or buildings with steeples that can be seen for miles, whether we gather with dozens or hundreds, what unites us is that we all call Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour, that we believe He was and is the Son of God and God Himself, we celebrate and share this truth and hope all people can find this amazing God the same way we have.
I have the great joy of meeting with leaders from across the different churches in Hinckley and Burbage on a monthly basis to pray for the area, encourage each other and celebrate all that God is doing.
We share burdens for the people we serve, tears sometimes as we pray, and share quite a few laughs as we banter with each other as well. I am always conscious though of the love that these brothers and sisters share for their communities.
All these people that make up the Census, each with their own lives, jobs, beliefs and relationships, they are all loved by Jesus so much and as I look at those people each month it’s wonderful to see that love expressed through them.
You may be part of one of these congregations, you may have never been to church in your whole life or somewhere in between.
What I can encourage you with though is in this town and the villages surrounding it we have some wonderful churches that are led by people who love Jesus and love people and we are all here to serve our communities however we can.