I have lived in the church long enough now to have reached one incontrovertible conclusion – the church is not perfect. Sorry if I caught somebody off guard with that eye opener, although I doubt I did so. One doesn’t have to be around the church long to know that it is filled with imperfect, in-process, broken and real people. If you are looking for a place of perfection, look elsewhere. The church won’t ever rise up to meet your high standard.

This is all very good news, however, because it means that there is room even for you in this imperfect, in-process, broken and real people. There is even room for me? Can you believe that? After all these years I am still stunned that there is a place for me within the family of God.

Jesus tells the members of His church to be patient with each other, to be intentional and relational with each other when someone fails. I’m not sure the church historically has been as faithful to this teaching as it could have been, but it is right there, front and center, in the Gospel (See Matthew 18:15-20). It’s hard to miss it.

There is a place for discipline in the church, and a strategy to which the church must give itself if it is to be faithful to Jesus. There is a place for prayer, too. In fact, prayer is at the foundation of all we do in Jesus’ church.

There is a place, too, for intentional, Christ-centered fellowship, fellowship that gathers, lives and moves in Jesus. It’s more than getting together and sipping on coffee and eating pie. The fellowship to which Jesus calls His church is a fellowship of followers, longing for Jesus to have His way in all things. This is not an addendum to Christianity. This is life lived in such a way that Jesus becomes a part of every thing going on, even in a group of two or three gathered in His name.

The fellowship we share must be shaped and formed around Jesus or we have missed the whole point.