How Much of the Unlikely and Unexpected Can Your Church Stand?

“Where does a church like this exist?”

This was the question my good friend put to me that morning over coffee. She’d asked to meet with me because she had many thoughts swirling in her mind post-Rosaria (You know — that period in people’s lives after they’ve read Rosaria Butterfield’s book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. See my review here.).

Among those many thoughts and ponderings, this one stood out. Wow. What a great question. Really think about that. Where do churches like the Syracuse RP exist? Is my church like this? (I like to think it is.) Do we cross over out of comfort zones and into messy areas of life tainted by icky sins?

What brings a church like this into existence, if they didn’t start out that way?

James Faris, over at Gentle Reformation, wrestles messily (his term) with this question and others as they pertain to the RPCNA and men who have gone outside comfort zones and had their efforts blessed in surprising and unlikely ways. It’s a worthy inquiry for all of our churches:

It strikes me that Dr. Roy Blackwood and Pastor Ken Smith have this in common:

[T}hey believe that God will powerfully change people.

They believe that Jesus will build his church as he has promised (Matthew 16:18) . . . 

[T]hey expect it to happen daily.

They believe that the word of God is powerful, and they regularly use it winsomely with those who are not ideologically similar (Hebrews 4:12). 

(Read more here:  Cultivating a Holy Brotherhood.)

And ponder the question yourself. Could someone speak in wonder about your congregation, “Do churches like this really exist”?