A Welcoming Church

Today I went to church, love my church. When I moved to Georgia my family became members of a great church; creating and maintaining a great Christian foundation through the hardest years of my development. Well today I returned to that church to hear a friend preach and it was like time stood still.  The whole church looks exactly the same as the day my family left.  The shelves that a friend and I put up when we were 12 are still in the same place. To give you a frame of reference I am now 36.  The church is almost empty. The capacity is 250 there is nowhere near that number in this church. When my family left there was about 125 in the church and we were a close knit church. We did everything together. We are still close and today hurt my heart.

The members of the church don’t smile. The walls were white and sterile. My heart literally sank when I sat down in one of the many empty pews. Though I am no longer a member of this specific church I still think of it as my church home. It is where I learned about myself as Christian, where I learned from the faith struggles of my friends and my own personal struggles with what was right. It saddens me that my home church is struggling. My prayers go out to this church and I will do anything in power to help in anyway. 

I would love to suggest that they add some color to the church. Add some plants and adornments, it gives life to the church. It’s welcoming. At present the church feels like hospital; very sterile and unwelcoming. Church is a safe haven. If you don’t feel like you are welcomed or able to praise God without fear, you stop going.

I need my church family connections, they sustain me. They know the real me and still love me and because of that relationship I have made it through a lot of issues in life.  Thank you to my Church family. I love you all!!