A few weeks ago I went to Lake Charles, in south Louisiana, to help repair the home of a sweet lady of faith who was struggling to survive after one of two hurricanes hit her area. We worked all day on Saturday, painting the interior. Other crews had been down prior to our time down there to tear out the ruined interior and put new shingles on the roof, but our main focus was painting the inside and outside. 

Our crew, all volunteers, was made up of skilled laborers and those who had never held a paint brush. It included the college educated and others who may have never set foot on a college campus. It also included recovering addicts and “strait as an arrow,” life-long believers. It was a small, diverse group. 

Isn’t that what the “church” is supposed to be? When I look at the scriptures for a glimpse of what “church” is, I see groups of people, diverse and interesting with a variety of backgrounds. I see, in Matthew 18, that a church is simply made up of men and women who gather together in the name of Jesus. Everyone, that day, the painting day, was there in the name of Jesus. In fact, if Jesus were not in the picture, this group would not have been together. Jesus is always the equalizer of people of diversity. 

On Sunday of that weekend, we gathered to celebrate the Lord’s supper. This is also a distinction of a church family. Scripture tells us in I Corinthians 11:23-26 that believers should gather together to remember Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection through taking the Lord’s supper which consists of bread and fruit of the vine. Unleavened bread and grape juice is often used today so we did that. We stood together, in clothes still stained from the day before of painting, and prayed and remembered what Jesus did for us as we ate this little meal together. We declared to our Lord that we were of one church, united in faith through His death. Where we stood, what we wore, how we looked—none of that mattered. What mattered was our declaration of faith as we remembered His sacrifice for us. 

Another biblical description of the church of God’s people is it is led by qualified men called elders. That particular weekend, the group was led by two elders who worked alongside the new believers, those who still struggled in their faith, the old and young, the talented and not so talented, the scared and the bold. Those two elders had served at different congregations, but on that day, they were just there representing Jesus and serving where needed, as older, wiser men of faith. And, with each stroke of the paint brush, they led by example of how to do God’s work and serve others. 

This brings me to another biblical characteristic of the church. The church is a place where everyone can use the gifts and talents God gave them. We often think we have to find our gift first to be of service to God, but that is not true. In doing the Lord’s work, our gifts and talents will be made evident. That weekend, the leader of our crew was a man who had lost his way allowing drugs and alcohol to take over his life. But, he found his way out of addiction and discovered his true gift to be traveling the countryside, helping those in need. He confidently encouraged all of us volunteers teaching us how to hold the paint and brushes and which type of paint would be used where. Yes, he found his gift and was using it.. But, just like in a real church, finding or not finding your talent doesn’t exclude you from service. I’m pretty sure painting isn’t on a list of my talents, but I could still do it to serve others. A real church is made of believers who are willing to do what they didn’t know they could do when called on to do it. 

So, that weekend in January when I went down to paint in south Louisiana, I got to “do church” with some pretty great people. Some I may never see again in this lifetime, but just might live next door to in Heaven.