Week 2 – A Story Worth Sharing…

In December 2016, a 29-year-old man was murdered. He had been an alcoholic since his teens. One day I had a conversation with him and he said he would be a Christian but he was too embarrassed. So I ask myself: “What is it we Christians do that is so un-cool or toe-curling to non-Christians?” I prayed with Mark on the street that day and kept praying I’d see him again. Nine months later we met and remained in daily contact until a fortnight before he was killed.

Around the same time as Mark turned up, I had an encounter with Gary. He had lived a completely off-the-rails life. He stopped me in my car to tell me he’d been reading the Bible (specifically the parable of the prodigal son). “I’ve been born again”, he said. “That’s wonderful” I said, “have you found a church yet?” He stared at me quizzically and said, “Tom, don’t you know, this is church?” I didn’t debate the point because I was in a hurry, but Mark, Gary and I started to meet on a weekly basis. We called it church. It was the simplest, most distilled, form of church. We didn’t ‘go’ to church, it was about ‘being’ church. All we did was talk about our lives, read the scriptures and pray. So consider this: “Why have we made church so complicated?”

This tiny church is now six or seven people who variously meet on the same basis. We are all, in some way, broken people on a journey, watching out for each other and seeking the truth. Is what we do really church? “Where two or three are gathered in my name” might define church sufficiently. If it does, any of us can do this kind of church. Why not try it?

By Tom Sterling
Chester-le-Street Circuit