It's not about church

So I started this blog last year as something I was going to do for Lent. That got derailed when a big chunk of my life fell apart and I had no words to type. Life is different now, but it is what it is, so as a part of my Lenten commitment, I am going to try this again. Here goes nothing...

Last night I was reading Almost Christian by Kenda Creasy Dean which is about a study that was done on the faith of teenagers and what that tells us about the church in the US. This quote stuck out to me "The goal of Christian formation is not church membership, but more perfect love of God and neighbor. Jesus did not call people to come to church, he called people to follow him."

I think sometimes we think the goal is getting people, especially teenagers, to church. I wrote in my journal last night "I think one of the dangers of my job is that it is easy to become too focused on church and not focused enough on Christ. Too focused on programs, and not focused enough on people." We need to remember that church and programs are simply tools for the greater goal - which is drawing people closer to God. And I, as a leader within my church, need to be an example of that, and honestly that is something I struggle with. Daily quiet times are not something that I am very good at doing on a regular basis. But I have so many other routines that the excuse I have used about not being a routine person really doesn't fly. I just need to do it. So that is my lenten promise. To spend more time in prayer and with God, and to journal and blog about what I am learning and how I am growing - even though no one knows about this blog except me :-)