I Went To Church

I went to church. The pastor preached about our need for a savior. He spoke about the forgiveness that we can find in Jesus Christ. He was preaching to me. I made a decision to accept salvation. I was saved. The congregation was ecstatic.

I kept going to church. My pastor preached about being a part of the body of Christ. He spoke about the ways that we play our part by serving the church. He was preaching to me. I decided to volunteer to help in the nursery. Everyone was warm, welcoming, and encouraging. I continued to serve and eventually I even began to teach a class. I served on committees. I helped plan activities and fellowships. Before long, my service was valued and I was held in high regard.

I kept going to church. My pastor preached about the great commission. He told us that we aren’t just to serve within the walls of the church, but we are to be active in our communities and reach the lost and lead them to Christ. He was preaching to me. I began to take part in our church evangelism program. I began to go out. I began to share Jesus. I began to feel the joy of giving people the hope of a Savior. I invited people to church. I began to get passionate about reaching the lost. As some people I ministered to made decisions for Jesus I began to hear words of caution from my fellow believers. “Make sure you don’t become arrogant. Make sure you give God the glory. Make sure you realize God is doing these works and not you alone.”

I kept going to church. My pastor preached about God using ordinary people to do mighty things to minister to the broken hearted. “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called,” my pastor repeated over and over. I knew my pastor was preaching to me. I began to ask God to use me. He was gracious enough to give me a chance. He started with small tasks, Bible studies in my home, inviting strangers over for meals, and before long I was sharing the gospel outside of church programs. I was traveling abroad to evangelize and I was welcoming foster children into my home. My life began to look nothing like it did prior to my salvation. But, the encouragement of other believers shifted, too. I was constantly reminded to “Be sure your biological family is your first priority. Be sure God is really calling you to do the things you are doing. Be sure you don’t hurt your family in the process of ministering to others. Be careful. There are real risks to what you are doing.” The tone was perhaps I had taken this whole “be the church thing” too far.

I kept going to church. My pastor was preaching on total surrender, on the dangers of putting the lure of this world; money, finances, time, career, success, above my relationship with God. He talked about saying, “Yes, Lord,” before God ever tells us what it is that He is calling us to do. He talked about living “All in” for Jesus. My pastor was preaching to me. God had already proven himself to be faithful in every single task He had asked me to do, so I decided to tell God, “Anything, anywhere. I, and everything I have, is yours.” It wasn’t long before God led my husband and I to give up our work and relocate to begin a new ministry. We are now helping women and children escape from their abusers, find freedom in Jesus Christ, and get resettled into new communities, no longer captive to man or to sin. Some people I used to go to Bible study with barely talk to me. They think I went off the deep end of crazy. Our family is afraid for us. They don’t know how we will sustain this. Neither my husband or I have traditional jobs. We have six children whom we homeschool. Our precious son is blind and wheelchair bound. It shouldn’t all work, but it all somehow does.

I don’t know what God will lead me to do next, but I know whatever it is, I will get the incredible joy of watching Him accomplish it. I also know I have still only just begun this journey, so I keep going to church to listen to my pastor preach. It’s funny how I always know he is speaking to me.

I went to church. I heard my pastor preach The Word of God, and I do my best to do what God has instructed me to do.

It really is that simple. It’s other people who want to make it messy and complicated. It’s other people who want me to continually re-evaluate the cost, the time, the sacrifice, the reward. It’s other people who want to analyze it, criticize it, scrutinize it, break it down into individual components to see what is right, what is wrong, what is of God, and what stems from my own naïve audacity or just reckless impulses. Interestingly, it’s the people who loved me the most in my inaction, or half action, who find my recent call to action to be controversial, even confrontational.

But at this point, by God’s grace I know the simple truth.

I am just doing what God asked me to do.

The trajectory of my life changed radically when I went to church. But that’s not due my own audacity. That’s the power of the Gospel.