One of the greatest blessings and helps to me as a young Christian was the fellowship I enjoyed with other Christians. Not a week went by without us being in someone’s home or someone being in ours. Every Sunday after the morning service and sometimes after the evening service we ate at someone’s house or had them over to our house– no one ate out on Sunday back then. As I’ve often said so many times, you couldn’t backslide if you wanted to because someone would be knocking on your door. They wouldn’t let you drop out without making every effort to get you back. Church back then was like family. Sure we had our differences, but we learned to work through them. But times have changed.
Today, for whatever reason, church members seldom ever see each other except during the services. Naturally you never really get to know one another that way. And, naturally, when a problem does arise you don’t work through it– you run or you let the other person run off. I realize that times are different, but our need of one another isn’t. You need others and they need you. Take advantage of every opportunity to get close to others. Here’s an idea— Although it isn’t the best answer, even something such as Facebook can be helpful in this matter. I realize that it is used for a lot of bad things, but so is corn— you can eat it or distill it and drink it. Some people should probably stay off Facebook altogether, but if you have the discipline to use it properly, why not use it for good?
I am using this example because I have been blessed recently by observing how some members are making use of Facebook to interact with one another. They share prayer request, information, stories, jokes, etc. with each other and you can tell by the comments that people are being blessed as a result. That’s good! It doesn’t make any sense to just call it a tool of the devil and not have anything to do with it, when it can be used for good. By the way, it isn’t necessary or wise to make everything public. You can send a private message to encourage some dear soul who is going through a tough time. And now that we have our Church Facebook page we can make announcements, request etc. that helps us communicate as a church family. I think we are wise to use it– as long as we use it wisely. The internet also gives us the means to reach out beyond our church family to others, especial the unsaved or un-churched. Some people are so addicted to it that it is about the only way to reach them.
This doesn’t take the place of personal face to face fellowship, but it’s much better than nothing. I would encourage you to take someone out to dinner or accept an invitation when it comes your way. You might be surprised at the difference it makes in your life. Give it a try and see what happens. If it turns out to be a positive experience let me know or share it with others online. If you can’t or won’t do that do what is second best and use Facebook. I especially love it when someone brags about the church to others and talks about what a blessing it is to them. Who knows it just might be that your testimony will encourage someone else to attend. Some folks have had bad experiences in churches and maybe even vowed to never go again. Your sweet testimony might be just what it takes to get them back. By sharing your experience you might be able to show them that all churches are not alike and they will come to see for themselves. Think about it!
