Birds of a Feather

We’ve all heard the saying “Birds of a feather flock together”.

People who think like us, want the same things, talk and act like us; these people make us feel better about ourselves.  People who are different, whose thoughts, feelings and desires are different make us feel insecure and uncertain about ourselves.

 A “birds-of-a-feather church” is a comfortable church, in which we can feel secure and pat each other on the back because we all think the same way.  A “birds-of-a-feather church” doesn’t take kindly to having among them people who don’t think and act just the way they do.  But it is a church which has no self-confidence to reach out and accept others who might think and act differently.

Romans 15:7 - “Accept one another, then, just as Christ has accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

 Look at Romans 15:7 again.  Key here is “as Christ has accepted you”.  Acceptance of others comes directly out of having been accepted by Christ.  When we know He has accepted us, we are freed from the need to prove to ourselves and to others that we are right.  This frees us to accept others. Because we are accepted.

 At Community Life Church, we want to be able to make this statement:  “Christ has accepted me, as I was, as I am, and as I am striving to become.  No matter how different you and I may look at things, I accept you”.

And to back this up, we put in our doctrinal statement that it is okay to have questions and doubts as we dig deeper into our faith, and it is okay to disagree with one another within the unity of our fellowship.  The purpose of this is to try to create a safe place within our fellowship for people to ask questions and wrestle with their doubts, for that is the way to build a stronger faith.

At Community Life Church, we want to welcome “birds with different feathers”.