There’s no such thing as a solo Christian.
I know that sounds strong, but I think it’s true. From the beginning, God has been forming a people, not collecting individuals. Jesus didn’t hand out private memberships. He called twelve to follow him together, then sent them out two by two. Wesley said it as plainly as anyone has: “Christianity is essentially a social religion, and to turn it into a solitary one is to destroy it.”
We forget that, and the forgetting is quiet. Nobody decides to drift. Our schedules fill up, worship becomes something we attend when it’s convenient, and we start carrying our faith alone without ever noticing we set it down.
But faith was never meant to be carried alone, because most of what it needs can only come from somebody else. You need people who will tell you the truth. People who will pray for you by name. People who notice when you’re not yourself. You need a few who are further down the road than you are, and a few who are behind you and need what you’ve already learned. That’s not a program. That’s the Body of Christ doing what it was made to do.
Which is why this week matters.
Tuesday through Thursday night, we will gather with fellow believers for Revival here in Statesboro. Tuesday we will gather at Statesboro First UMC. Wednesday here at Pittman Park, with Open Table beforehand, and Thursday at Brannen Chapel. Bishop Sharma Lewis Logan is preaching all three nights.
Throughout the week we’re going to remember the faith planted in this soil, renew it in this generation, and be sent forward together in mission and ministry. One church in three places, joined in mission for the sake of our community.
Rooted and sent. Both halves need other people.
Rooted, because our faith didn’t start with us. Paul reminded Timothy of the faith that lived first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5). Somebody handed it to you. A grandmother. A Sunday school teacher who never knew what she started. A friend who kept inviting you back. We don’t come to these three nights as people who built something. We come as people who received something.
Sent, because roots aren’t the point. Fruit is. Paul told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God in him, because God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:6-7). And nobody is sent alone either. Jesus sent them two by two for a reason.
So come. Sit next to somebody you don’t know from a church that isn’t yours and let’s praise God together. Bring a friend who hasn’t been in a sanctuary in years. Bring your kids so they can see what it looks like when the church shows up (we’ve got an awesome camp planned for them too!!).
Friends, we’re better together. We always have been. And I can’t wait to see what God will do in us and through us next!!
God bless,
Jonathan Smith
For Jesus. For People. For Community.