THE BEAUTY OF BELONGING

“Aloneness can lead to loneliness. God’s preventative for loneliness is intimacy – meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another. In Christ we have the capacity for the fulfilling sense of belonging which comes from intimate fellowship with God and with other believers.” – Neil T. Anderson.

At some level or another, we all want to “belong” to something bigger than ourselves. We crave relationships and feeling connected to other people in some significant way—so much so that our desire to find connectedness and belonging impacts just about everything we do, whether we are believers or non-believers.

As a believer, you want to belong, and we want other people to belong as well. As a church, we want to create a culture of belonging rather than fitting in and believing that you are part of a group, family system, team, workplace, etc. Being a part of something brings value to a person. The desire to belong is deeply rooted in all of us.

To create a culture of belonging we need to stop seeing church or ministry as a group of friends hanging out. Instead, we need to see church and ministry as a group of Jesus followers called to minister to the needs of others. When we see ourselves as Jesus followers called to minister, we no longer enter the church space for ourselves but for others. The result is we no longer worry about people being different or seemingly mismatched because we see everyone as a person whose spiritual development has been entrusted to us. Maya Angelou said, “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”

This week, take a moment and consider whether you may be contributing to a “fitting in culture.”  Do you expect others to be like you? Do you avoid those who are different from you? Do you unintentionally create a box for people to “fit into,” or else they won’t be accepted? Ask God to help you be the type of person others can be themselves around and accept them despite their opinions, imperfections, or differences. Ask God to see them as people loved by God who we serve as best we can. This does not mean we will have a deep connection with everyone and anyone. It just means you will help create a place where people can have a sense of belonging.

God sent His Son to redeem us and give us His love and a place to belong. He gave us His church and told us, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” And that is what the early church did. They shocked the ancient world with a love they never knew before. It was a love from God and a love from the community of believers. It was a sacrificial love, a caring love, a belonging love. Jesus has called us to do the same.

Today, people all around us want to be loved and belong. Why not introduce them to the love of God and His family?

Discussion Questions:

1. If God created us with the need to belong, should the church be the safest place on earth to do that? What can we do as individuals to create a sense of belonging?
2. Who can we invite to a church that clearly needs to belong?