Expand Your Neighborhood

Last week I preached a sermon entitled Being a Neighbor in BOLD.

This week my family and I will be attending Ebenezer Baptist Church. We are attending, in part, as a response to the growing inter-racial tensions our country has been facing. We are attending because black lives matter just as much as every other life. We are attending because Jesus can give us our spiritual nourishment just as thoroughly via a black preacher as a white preacher. These are not new beliefs for us, but we are attending because it is much more easy for people to know what we believe when we live it out than when we merely say it.

Ebenezer Baptist Church, according to their website, was founded a mere fourteen years after the Emancipation Proclamation. FOURTEEN. Their existence is a testimony both to the struggles of our African American brothers and sisters, and to the victories and progress that Jesus has brought them and our nation through. Their focus is on building stronger families through spiritual nourishment. They are continuing to tackle the struggles of the community head on. 

Why haven't we attended any black churches in the recent past up until now? Because we are members of a church already. We are members of a church where all ethnicities and races are welcome, a church that represents our beliefs well, a church where we are free to use our gifts and talents to serve Jesus. And usually, people who are members of a church attend that church regularly, week after week. For most people, that is a practice I continue to recommend highly.

But not in the face of division.

And the division between churches in Charlotte -- not only in Charlotte, but definitely in Charlotte -- extends beyond race. And so my family will continue to attend a church that is not our own once a month, because every believer is family. Every church that counts Jesus as both Lord and Savior, that acknowledges that Jesus is both God and man, that preaches that Jesus truly died and truly rose from the dead, and that points humanity to salvation through faith in Jesus is a part of Jesus' Church. Our church is part of Jesus' Church. So are many other churches.

I want to get to know my extended family. So this week I am attending Ebenezer Baptist. Next month, I will attend another church. And just as I invite people to join me in attending Messiah Lutheran Church, I invite people to join me in attending brother and sister churches. You can do this in your own areas of the world. If you live in Charlotte, you can visit sibling churches together with me on the third Sunday of each month -- I'll mostly be using Facebook to let people know where I'm going, but I'll try to post it here, too. Even if you don't know Jesus, please join me. I am not worried about whether you end up at Messiah Lutheran Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, or any other church, but I do want you to know Jesus.

And I want to work toward peace. I didn't say uniformity. We're not all going to be the same or think exactly the same. But we can love one another and treat one another with dignity and respect. We can expand our neighborhoods.

This is what I'm doing to expand my neighborhood. What will you do to expand your neighborhood?