The Beauty of a Church Community!

The Church...a Kaleidoscope

Did you ever use to play with a kaleidoscope as a kid? Christ established the Church to be a reflection of Him. Just as a kaleidoscope makes beautiful images, so can your Church Community display God’s beautiful glory! I pray that you had a wonderful Easter reflecting on the eternal goodness and sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for humanity! My Easter weekend was so different from my first 2 years in Florida that I decided I would share about the importance of having a Church community in the life of every believer. If you do not have one right now, do not ever give-up on asking God for direction in seeking your own local church community. Keep trusting God to lead you. He wants you in the right Church home more than you do! God has just the right imperfect, but perfect church home for you to experience Christ Jesus more abundantly through a life-giving church family! When looking for a local Church home, it is important that you are regularly being taught Biblically. But just as important as being consistently taught God’s Word is to have a Church Community that lovingly expresses God and His Word! A great passage to determine if the love and beauty of Jesus Christ is in your local Church community is found in Colossians 3:5-17. I have briefly summarized the godly and ungodly characteristics found in Colossians 3 below:

Colossians 3:5-17

DOs	DON’Ts
vs. 10 – Be continually renewed in knowledge about Christ’s image, whom we should reflect more and more because He lives inside of every Christ-follower.	vs. 5– Behaviors from our old sin nature that God saved you from like sexual sins, lust, evil desire, greed, idolatry
vs. 12 – Put on genuine compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience	vs. 8 – Put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your speech
vs. 13 – Accept one another and forgive each other’s offenses against you just as the Lord has forgiven you (show God’s mercy through forgiveness)	vs. 9 – Do not lie to one another
vs. 14 – “ABOVE ALL PUT ON LOVE,” which is the perfect pond of unity
vs. 15 – Let God’s peace rule in your hearts and be thankful
vs. 16 – Let God’s Word live and grow deeply in you through application of His Word individually and corporately in the Church Community as you teach, instruct, and encourage one another in God’s holy wisdom. Also, Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in the Church Community with gratitude in your hearts for God.
vs. 17 – In both our speech and in our actions/behaviors, “DO EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS” and giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Let us emulate the commands found in Colossians 3:5-17, which will result in a kaleidoscope of beauty displayed to not only your members but also in your community that God wants you to reach. These verses in Colossians remind me of the rich beauty that every Church community should reflect. Colossians 3:14 states “And over all these things clothe ourselves with love {or ‘put on love’}, which is the perfect bond of unity.” God commands us, His Church, to “clothe ourselves with love” and to share with others all the companion expressions of love. How are we able to love others well in our Church communities? It first begins with God’s initial love for each of us as referenced in vs 12. And, 1 John 4:19 plainly states that “We love each other because He loved us first”. God’s people also have the promise of Christ’s Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside enabling us to choose to love others well. Love is a choice just like the sinful actions listed in the DON'Ts summary column above are also a choice. Which will you choose to display in your Church community so that it will reflect the manifold beauty of Jesus Christ within the church body and to others?

Similar to the summary of DOs listed above that are found in this passage, I have listed some elements that I find beautiful about the Church community that God led me to find in Florida after a long search. Remember that it is only through prayer and finding a local Church to attend that you will be able to confirm if it is the kaleidoscope of beauty that God has made just for you!

CHARACTERISTICS OF MY BEAUTIFUL CHURCH COMMUNITY

1. Loving people modeled from the top-down in church leadership

2. Ability to serve and utilize gifts more than in the past

3. Experience of spiritual growth through Sunday morning sermons, group and individual bible studies, and other bible teaching events

4. A place where I have been free to be myself and the ability to show my vulnerabilities and work past them and seeing others do the same

5. A place that is not perfect and nor do they expect perfection from me; instead, they encourage forgiveness when and if offended

6. Smiles and Laughter as opposed to Angry Frowns, Arguments, and Rejection

7. The enjoyment of Fellowship as opposed to Solitude

8. Seeing consistent faces and getting to know regular attenders

9. A place where you can see God moving in and outside the church because of an impactful Church community of loving believers making a difference in their physical, local city, communities, schools, and businesses

10. The pleasure of seeing Diversity in races, ethnicities, cultures, ages, and genders

11. Encouraged to always evangelize by sharing our faith in Jesus Christ in our local home and social environments

Let's be Beautiful, Church!

~Dawn

FREE RELATED RESOURCE: If you need help finding a Church home, please reference my free downloadable resource, 'How to Select a Church Community to Call Home', which is made available at the bottom of this same webpage: https://www.eph412consulting.com/blog-free-resources.