I know full well that it is just a building and the church is the people, but stay with me here. The above picture is from an abandoned church. In those pews men, women, and children used to pray, worship, fellowship, dream, hope, & cry out all with our Lord. I do not know the history of the church in this picture but I can almost guarantee you that this building did not just become abandoned over night.
Fellowship with other believers is important. Placing God first is important. Understanding that there is only one Bride of Christ is important. Grasping that there is only going to be one Heaven, Internalizing that there is only one Body of Christ is important.
So much of the time Christians want to act as though the church down the street is competition. THEY ARE NOT! They are a part of the body just like you. When they fail you fail. When they loose people you loose people. It should break hearts of Christians everywhere when a congregation closes its doors, but instead we think maybe they'll come here instead. Yes, the picture above is a building, but what that building represents is a group of believers. Our brothers and sisters in Christ.
God is love. Is it love when we look at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as competition. We are called to rise up and be the church, live a life worthy of the Gospel. When we fail to aid fellow churches in need due to our own agenda we are ignoring the agenda of the Lord to grow the Kingdom.
Christ died for all. Our measuring stick that we use to decide who to help and who not to help is not the same as God's. We fail every time. But it is time for the American church, meaning all churches in America, to stop being so internally focused and get Kingdom focused. Unless we want empty churches everywhere.
One Spirit!
One Gospel!
One Body!
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