On the Eleventh Day Of Christmas: Celebrating Church

Zion Mennonite was just across the road
from our parsonage home from1969-88.

For most of the years I served as a pastor and part-time teacher our family lived in a parsonage across Zion Church Road from our congregation's meeting house. As parents we were always concerned about whether this would draw our three children closer to the church as a community of warmth and nurture or make them less receptive to being a part of a family of faith.

We always tried to stress that church isn't just about a special location, building, denomination or Sunday service, but an extended family of people united around a special purpose, a movement of Christ followers who care for each other and who continue to engage in the work Jesus came to earth to accomplish.

As Anabaptists, we knew their becoming a committed part of that kind of movement had to be a voluntary choice on their part, but hoped and prayed that they would feel called to sign on to that mission.

Meanwhile, we often asked ourselves the question of which should comes first, this kind of family of people heaven-bent on a common cause? Or should our nuclear family claim the greater amount of time and commitment?

Over time I have become convinced that the two should be seen as inseparable, that the nuclear family unit is most healthy and strong when it is a vital part of a larger beloved and loving community. In our case, we deeply appreciated the loving influence of people like the Millers, Algers, Brennemans, Blys, Kuykendalls, Lantz's, Showalters and others who were an important part of the "village" that helped raise our family. We couldn't have done this well without their reinforcing the faith and values we tried to pass on.

Much love, many blessings.