Folks talk about baptism as a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. That it is, but when I was baptized I was asked to go a step further. I was asked if I would be willing to accept reproof from members of this faith community and if I would be willing to give reproof to other members. This is asked of all candidates for baptism.

What is that all about? It is saying that I want these people to be my people; I want them to care enough about me that they will talk to me when something doesn’t seem quite right. I want to care enough about them that I feel I can do the same to them.

God does not want us to just be Christians at large; he wants us to be Christians with a home, a spiritual family.

When a church has a group and a program for every imaginable need, that does not mean that those needs are being met.

A church does not function well as a top-down organization. It was never meant to. A church is meant to function as a community of ordinary people who don’t feel like they’ve got it all together as individuals, but who care about each other, bear with each other and help each other.