In some form or fashion, I have had discussions with friends and co-workers lately that circle around relationships. It is amazing how so many things stem from relationships with others and how they are similar in many ways. Relationships between spouses are similar from person to person. Parents to children are very similar. Relationships you have with relatives tend to gravitate to a lesser connection than the ones you have with mere co-workers or friends. Fellowships with meaningful people are needed for a life to grow in any rewarding way. The book that I am reading now, "The Building of The Church," is going into detail of the fellowship that is need between believers in the body of Christ. I won't take away from C.E. Jefferson's words by elaborating on it, I will simply give you his words...
A man's love for his church depends in large measure upon the relationship established between himself and his fellow-members. Fellowship is of the essence of church membership, and to cultivate and enrich this fellowship is the primary task of the Christian preacher. A sharp distinction ought to be made between a church and an audience. It is to be regretted that we have come to rank churches by the size of their nominal membership, and to judge preachers by the number of persons who listen to their sermons. A superficial man is consequently tempted to work, not for the church, but an audience. An audience, however, is not worth working for. An audience is a set of unrelated people drawn together by a short-lived attraction, an agglomeration of individuals finding themselves together for a brief time. It is a fortuitous concourse of human atoms, scattered as soon as a certain performance is ended. It is a pile of leaves to be blown away by the wind, a handful of sand lacking consistency and cohesion, a number of human filings drawn into position by a pulpit magnet, and which will drop away as soon as the magnet is removed. An audience is a crowed, a church is a family. An audience is a gathering, a church is a fellowship. An audience is a collection, a church is an organism. An audience is a heap of stones, a church is a temple. Preachers are ordained, not to attract an audience, but to build a church. Course and ambitious and worldly men, if richly gifted, can draw audiences. Only a disciple of the Lord can build a church.
My heart goes out to Jefferson. It is amazing still how these words that were penned in 1910 are still relevant today. I am learning much from this book. It is becoming one of my favorites of all times.
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