My book, Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another , recently released. I wrote it in the hopes that it might invite those wondering if being part of a church is worth to experience God’s wonderful purpose for them in a local church and that it would would encourage those already in church to invest more deeply. Here are thirty of the most significant quotes from it–quotes that, I hope, will give you a sense of the message and heart of the book.
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That’s who this book is for—the person figuring out what it means to belong to a church and whether it is worth it.
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I’m inviting you to see the church, in its local expressions, as God sees it. It’s an invitation to see his plan and his heart’s desire for it, and to step into your place in that plan.
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God’s plan for his church is strategic, sure, but part of his perfect strategy is offering hurting, tired, worn-out, needy sinners like you and me a place to belong, a place to identify, a place to encounter the profound, transformative, healing, restoring grace of Jesus Christ.
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Belonging, then, is not defined by where we feel most comfortable, most at ease, or by where we have the most in common with others. Belonging is defined by where God intends us to be, and therefore where he intends us to find true life and deepest satisfaction and joy.
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In fact, this is the truest reality of belonging: we belong to Christ as part of his church.
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When we are adopted through the work of Jesus Christ into the family of God, we receive unconditional, immovable, eternal love as God’s children. We could not be more loved. This is what adoption is supposed to look like.
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Even if following Jesus separated you from your family of origin (and following Jesus can be that costly) or if you do not have family with whom you are close, for whatever reason, in the church you gain a family exponentially, what Jesus called “a hundredfold.” You become part of a family marked by the sacrifice and humility and love of Jesus Christ.
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In a physical body if there is disunity, animosity, or infighting we call that illness, like a cancer or an autoimmune disease. If a church is marked by disunity, animosity, or infighting it is just as ill and cancerous.
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Unlike the amputation of a hand or a toe or an ear, which is forcibly done by someone else, we often voluntarily amputate ourselves from the church.
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God’s plan is not coldly strategic or mechanical. It is relational, loving, full of heart and life, and designed for closeness.
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A checklist doesn’t belonging create. A church could have great preaching, powerful music, top notch children’s ministry, and an airtight discipleship program and it still not be a true family or a healthy body. For the weary and wary, pristine ministry programming isn’t the answer. Culture is.
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In the same way “friend of sinners” described Jesus, it describes a church truly shaped by his gospel.
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True honesty, moving from the darkness of withdrawal and withholding into the light of Christ, moves us into true belonging. We encounter the healing of Jesus Christ as he cleanses us from the filth and infection of sin and we encounter joyful unity with other Christians who have also entered the light.
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There is no room for ego or hierarchy or smugness in the family of God.
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We tend to excel at noticing and recalling all the ways we bear with others, while completely missing the ways they have borne with us.
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A simple way to define Christian fellowship is a gathering of believers where the Bible’s ‘one-another’ commands are lived out with joy.
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Being defined by what we are opposed to means that we are not setting a course but rather having our course dictated to us.
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We don’t belong at churches that disguise disunity behind friendliness or that unify around causes and issues that aren’t Jesus. We don’t belong at churches that are openly contentious. And we don’t belong at churches that make the gospel of Jesus Christ second to anything.
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Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers,” because peace doesn’t just happen, it must be made, fought for, defended, and clung to like our lives depend on it.
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The ‘one another’ commands in Scripture . . . are two-way streets. You cannot truly belong to a body if you expect to receive these but are unwilling to give them, or keep score and then scale back when you feel you’re giving more than you’re getting.
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It is problematic when we make our preferences the righteous standard for a church.
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Unity cannot happen if we all die on the hills of our preferences.
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The Bible may not change our preferences but it will change our hearts—and that will change how much we cling to preferences.
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While we are all likely aware of explosive, divisive situations of abuse and wrongdoing in churches, hurt in the church is not generally headline-grabbing. Usually it is the result of pride, selfishness, gossip, or some other quiet sin.
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The church is the only place we can heal from the hurt we’ve encountered in church.
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One church’s failure is not the failure of Christ’s gospel or his plan, nor does it reflect Christ’s heart for you. He has a place for you among his people where you can belong.
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The friendship of Jesus is not merely something we accept and benefit from. It is transformative, turning us into Christ-reflecting friends for one another.
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[Jesus] didn’t die for those who were close to him. He died so that we could be close to him. He laid down his life to make us friends, not because we deserved it as friends.
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The purpose of the Church is to proclaim and exhibit the reality of Jesus Christ to the world. It is where and how people encounter the real Jesus.
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This, then, is how to belong: follow in Jesus’s footsteps, with the help of His Holy Spirit, by laying down your life for the benefit of your church and giving yourself joyfully and wholeheartedly to loving Jesus and His people.
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Belong explores how you can help to create a church where everybody feels at home: a place where fellow believers build genuine, honest, meaningful Christian relationships and enjoy deep fellowship as a community of believers. Whatever your experience of church has been, this book will help you to see that belonging to a church is a good gift from God, the outworking of our identity as brothers and sisters in Christ, and worth your time, love, and commitment.
You can find a FREE small group kit (study guide and video teaching) here along with bulk discounts for your group or church.
