Community is Hard (And That's Okay)

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

When we read the news or go on social media, we see clashes between different groups of people everywhere--harsh words, arguments, even violence and crime. It could be a one-sided misunderstanding or hatred, or sometimes it’s more complex than that. Whatever the fuel, the outcome of not valuing people who are different than us because of race, sexuality, religion, or something else always fails to reflect the heart of Christ. 

Photo Credit: Dan Gold

The problem is not unique to the present day. For the early church, the temptation was to keep the news about Jesus to themselves and the kind of people they thought needed to hear it. In Acts 11 though, the word began to spread. People who had suffered persecution scattered to a variety of places, and while some of them continued to only spread the word among Jews, others began telling Greeks. It seems an obvious thing to us--of course the Greeks should know about Jesus!--but there were likely Christians who disagreed with this approach, wanting to keep things as they were. Change is often scary, and certainly is when we’re not sure we’ll fully on board with it in the first place. 

As we look at our own lives, we may not find outright hatred for people who are different than us, but we may also discover that the people we surround ourselves with are more like us they are unlike us. It’s easy to get caught up in our own lives and only focus on the people already within our comfort zone. Our singular focus can cause us to forget to look for the people around us who are different than the kind of people we’d normally surround ourselves with but have deep value they can add to our lives. While it’s true that no one person can maintain healthy relationships with hundreds of other people, we can--and must--seek to create the space in our lives to begin the process. As much as we often forget about building relationships with those are different than us in our personal lives, it’s all too easy for churches to do it as well. 

The early church had to come around to the idea that the good news of Jesus was not something they could keep to themselves. As Encounter Church, that’s our mission as well--to spread the good news of Jesus. Over the past six years since we started, Encounter has grown a lot, but part of growth is to continually re-evaluate where we are and where we could and should be going. The reality is, the people who attend Encounter on a regular basis are, for the most part, fairly similar in quite a few ways. If we mean it when we say we believe the good news of Jesus is for everyone, we have to ask if we’re doing all we can to reach everyone. Does our current state do a good job of reflecting the community God has placed us in?

There aren’t easy answers to this question, and there are no simple, five-minute quick fix solutions. Asking ourselves if we are truly doing all we can to spread the good news to all the people around us might be a good starting point though. It might start as small as realizing there are groups of people who already attend Encounter that we have rarely, if ever, taken the time to talk to and get to know. From there, how else can we reach get outside of our comfort zones to begin building new relationships--not because it’s easy, but because it’s good and necessary? 

As we seek to be good members of the community God has placed us in, how will you support that mission and take part in it?

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

The Grace of Closed Doors

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

I once applied for a job I just knew was going to be great. It was right around the time I was graduating from college, my experience was in line with what they were looking for, and it was a field I was very much interested in entering. Then, without so much as a phone interview, I was told I was not selected for the position. It was disappointing, confusing, and disheartening. So I carried on and applied for a slew of different jobs, mostly not hearing back at all, or if I did it was only to tell me I was not selected.  No after no kept coming, and I couldn’t understand why.

In Revelation 3 we read the letter to the church of Philadelphia. For these Christians, the “no” was likely accompanied by the physical shutting of a door. Instead of being allowed to continue to worship in the synagogue with the Jews, with the people they had grown up with and loved, their decision to follow Jesus meant the synagogue doors were literally shut for them. The closing of those doors probably had an impact on their family relationships, their social circles, and their very way of everyday life. 

While we may not know what it’s like to be barred from a place of worship that was integral to how we viewed ourselves, we’ve likely all had situations where doors seemed to be shutting in our faces. Whether it’s rejections from job applications, frustrating situations with children that never seem to get better, or relationships that keep ending, they all have their own disappointments that go along with them. Jesus’ words to the church in Philadelphia ring true for us as well. He reminds the people that he sees them. Jesus knows what it’s like to be rejected, and he is with us in our deep pain. As he continues on, he tells them, “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” It’s his way of reminding the people that wherever their story has them right now, it is not done being written yet.

When we hit closed doors, it’s easy to fall into thinking that God is unkind or unloving. After all, if he really cared about us, wouldn’t he be opening the doors that we want him to open? And of course, sometimes he does--we get into the dream school, we meet a wonderful man or woman, we succeed financially--but in those times, we also have to remember that it’s not because of anything particularly awesome we do, it’s because of his grace. At the same time, the closed doors are their own kind of grace, even though it might be a painful one. Closed doors can hurt, but they can allow us to turn and find another way, the way God is opening. 

Months after I applied for the job that seemed so great, I found myself applying for a different job at the same company. While I wasn’t as confident that I was a fit for this new role I was applying for, I sent in my resume anyway--and over a month later, I accepted their offer. After being in my new job for a while, I realized that the original position I had applied for would not have been a good fit for my skills and personality, but my new role was. At the time I couldn’t see why God was letting me be turned down for all those jobs, but now I can truly say I’m grateful for it. Often times we can’t see these truths when we’re stuck in the mess of constant “no” without the glimmer of a “yes” anywhere in sight, which is why it’s so powerful to be able to look back on those times when we finally can see the closed doors for the good that they were. 

As much as this is true in our own individual circumstances, it was true for the church in Philadelphia, and it’s true for Encounter Church in Kentwood, Michigan in the year 2016. From the time that Pastor Dirk and a small team of people originally had a vision for a new church, God has continued to open doors for us in a variety of ways. At the same time, he’s also closed doors for us as a church, not because he’s unkind or unloving, but because he had a different way for us to go. Although the church in Philadelphia was comparatively small and of little influence compared to other cities, God kept it thriving because he had a mission for it fulfill. For those of us who consider Encounter our spiritual home, it is good for us to consider how we can be a part of what God has said “yes” to for our church. He has opened doors for us to serve our community in unique ways, and it’s our privilege and our responsibility to use those opportunities well. As we continue to grow and change, what are other ways we can continue to look for the doors God is opening, or closing, out of his grace? And are we willing to walk through those doors when we see them?


[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

When What You Want Isn't What You Need

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

There’s a worship song we sing pretty regularly at Encounter that I struggle with at times. Called “Always,” it includes these words:

Oh, my God, He will not delay  

My refuge and strength always 

I will not fear, His promise is true 

My God will come through always, always

One Sunday after singing it, I remarked to a friend that I wasn’t sure I bought it. At that point in my life, it seemed as though God was either moving really, really slowly, or perhaps not at all. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe God was there, but it was difficult to see how and where he was working. When we’re in a layover season in life, a time of uncertainty, disappointment, loss, heartbreak, change, or any number of other things that seem to keep us from moving from one place to the next, it can feel like “He will not delay” is a bit of a lie.

Photo Credit: Flickr User netcfrance, Creative Commons

In Numbers 11, we find the Israelites at the very beginning of a forty-year layover. When the people start complaining about the lack of a diverse diet within the first few weeks, Moses knows he’s in for a long, difficult time as their leader. Instead of sending fruit baskets and pizza and ice cream to alleviate the grumbling though, God gives Moses...a committee. It was likely not the answer Moses had been hoping for. Our natural reaction to a layover is to ask God to get us out of it, and that seems to have been Moses’ hope as well.  Yet, God’s reason for sending a committee is an important one. In verse 17 he tells Moses:

I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Instead of making Moses bear the weight of an entire community’s layover experience on his own, God gave him people to share it with. The Bible doesn’t tell us what the leaders prophesied about a few verses later, but I doubt it was all the same message given in the exact same words. And while we don’t get filled in on what Moses was thinking and feeling as this happened, I hope he was able to appreciate what God was doing by surrounding him with people. During a layover it’s tempting to ask God to get us out of it, but what if instead our question was, What does God have for me in this layover? And what if sometimes his answer is a committee?

If God gives us a committee, it can be difficult to let other people into complicated, messy spaces with us. We might feel like they’ll judge or blame us for being where we are, or offer words meant to help but that instead bring hurt. Those are the unpleasant sides of dealing with other humans, because nothing will ever go completely smoothly in any relationship. But we shouldn’t let fear hold us back from reaching out to the people who have proven themselves trustworthy. God put them in our lives for a reason. Having a committee didn’t fix all of Moses’ problems--it didn’t remove them from the desert or immediately make meat appear--it was, though, a tangible reminder from God that Moses was not alone in his problem. When we are in a layover, or when we are sitting with other people in their layover, presence may be all the solution we will get or are able to offer.

At times though, we have the opportunity to see layover circumstances in a different way than the people who are in the midst of them. I don’t remember my friend’s exact response to my lament that God seemed to be delaying, but it revolved around the idea that maybe God’s definition of “will not delay” is different than my own. For a God who is bigger than my linear, human understanding of time, “not delaying” could be a week from now, two years from now, or not in my lifetime at all. It wasn’t the reminder I wanted at that time, but it was the one I needed. If we let it, good, healthy, Christ-like community can function for us this way--helping us see what we may not be able to on our own and reminding us that God is who he says he is and he will do what he says he will. What we want from a layover isn’t always the same as what we need.


[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]