We all have a need to belong.  It is hard wired into our make up.  Whether we see ourselves as introverted or extroverted makes little difference to the wiring…we will still seek to belong and be accepted socially.

Our need to belong is no accident of nature, nor quirk of our species.  The Bible teaches us that when God created man He saw that it was not good for him to be alone and so He created woman from man.  From that moment on they belonged together.  So too their family and tribe as it grew sensed they belonged together. 

In building church God taps into our fundamental need to belong.  In fact Ephesians 2:19 tells us-

“…we are made fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as chief cornerstone.”

We should never forget that God has intent with regard to His church.  We do something for Him in our togetherness that reaches beyond our own significance.  Eph 3:10 tells us His intent is that through we the church, that the manifold wisdom of God should be made known. 

We don’t go to church to be entertained.  We don’t go to church to see what we can get out of it like some sort of Christian consumerism.  That is not church.  We are church when we gather together and build together serving the purposes of God.  Eph 2:22 tells us

“…in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”

We belong together.  We belong to God. 

Let’s celebrate who we are as the church and live to serve the purposes of God in our time.

   Steve and Chris Green  

   Pastors

www.coastlandscommunity.blogspot.com