{"id":5413,"date":"2010-12-28T16:35:04","date_gmt":"2010-12-28T22:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/?p=5413"},"modified":"2011-05-03T16:56:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:56:49","slug":"a-guest-post-why-i-believe-in-the-church-again-a-post-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/12\/a-guest-post-why-i-believe-in-the-church-again-a-post-about-you.html","title":{"rendered":"A GUEST POST: Why I believe in ‘The Church’ again (a post about YOU)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This post is written by my friend Aaron Reddin. <\/a><\/p>\n

Let me say this<\/strong>: 2009 thoroughly sucked.\u00a0 And when I say it sucked… I mean\u2026<\/p>\n

Well, it just sucked, OK?<\/p>\n

There were some really amazing things that took place, but their glory seemed to have been robbed by the actions of others as well as other circumstances.<\/p>\n

If this post were about me, I\u2019d tell you all about it.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s about you, The Church.<\/p>\n

In 2010 though, \u00a0you have shown me the beauty that lurks beneath the surface of the \u201cSunday crowds\u201d.\u00a0 You\u2019ve shown me that the beauty and love that exists there, far exceeds the darkness and destruction that we can periodically face there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so easy to let the stupid, careless, and selfish actions of others completely ruin our love for The Church.\u00a0 It\u2019s so, so easy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now found that it\u2019s equally easy to see the beauty of the majority.\u00a0 If you want to see it.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t attend very many church services in 2010.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t want to.\u00a0 But I have seen the unveiled hearts of the people in many local churches as they banded together to meet more needs than any of us could keep up with.<\/p>\n

I did get to see liberals working with conservatives.\u00a0 Black people working with white people.\u00a0 Men working with women.\u00a0 Teens working with elders.\u00a0 Denominations working with \u201cnons\u201d.\u00a0 And even churches working with the de-churched.<\/p>\n

It has been remarkable.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been about what church was doing what.\u00a0 It\u2019s been about identifying needs and finding ways to meet them, no matter the cost.\u00a0 It has been nothing short of beautiful.\u00a0 Thank you all for showing me that I need not place a \u201cchurch name label\u201d on people who attend particular churches.\u00a0 I need only place a \u201cfamily\u201d label on members of The Church.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need more church services to change the world.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always believed that.\u00a0 And you\u2019ve proven it to me in 2010.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t list everyone that has played a part in all of this, as I can\u2019t keep up with them all.\u00a0 Nor is it about individual credit to any one person or organization.\u00a0 It\u2019s just about saying thank you.\u00a0 Even though I won\u2019t list anybody, you know who you are.<\/p>\n

Thank you for showing me more of the heart of Christ.\u00a0 Thank you for bringing me closer to God.\u00a0 Thank you for helping me to judge less, and love more.\u00a0 Thank you for pushing me to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in my actions.\u00a0 Thank you for encouraging me when I wanted to quit.\u00a0 For pushing me when I wanted to slow down.\u00a0 Thank you for being my friends.\u00a0 And thank you for showing me that \u201cThe Church\u201d is real, and very much alive.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s in store for 2011.<\/p>\n

Are you able to “believe” in the The Church? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is written by my friend Aaron Reddin. Let me say this: 2009 thoroughly sucked.\u00a0 And when I say it sucked… I mean\u2026 Well, it just sucked, OK? There were some really amazing things that took place, but their glory seemed to have been robbed by the actions of others as well as other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-guest-post"],"yoast_head":"\nA GUEST POST: Why I believe in 'The Church' again (a post about YOU) - Jesus Needs New PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/12\/a-guest-post-why-i-believe-in-the-church-again-a-post-about-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A GUEST POST: Why I believe in 'The Church' again (a post about YOU) - Jesus Needs New PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post is written by my friend Aaron Reddin. 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