I went to a large church of over 1200 when I was in high school.  I went to church just about every Sunday and I had some "good" friends that were my age.  But I was allowed to live a little bit of a double life because of the size of the church and youth group.  I was a good Christian on Sunday and around my "church" friends, but when I was with people I knew I could get away with things, I would allow sin to enter in. 

 I venture to say that I am not much different than most Christians.  In fact as an adult I have to constantly check myself and see if I am wearing a mask.  What helped me change you ask.  It was deep relationships.  Three relationships stick out to me as I write this.  The first is a pastor by the name of Brian Neely.  He was the college pastor at my church.  I would spend a lot of time kicking a soccer ball in his office with him, while talking about life.  We also went out to lunch and talked life.  It is not that we had a bible study, but in a sense, every meeting was a bible study, because it was always about how God was involved with every part of our lives. 

 The other relationships that helped me were with Matt and Jon.  Matt and Jon were a year older than me.  We went to the same college group.  While in the college group, we went to Mexico and on other activities.  We became close and started talking deep and about the inner struggles of having a heart that is wicked and in need of transformation.  I remember one day in particular where we all confessed sin to each other and it was one of the most freeing acts in my life.  I remember feeling relieved that I was not alone in my struggles with sin.  Now I was on a team, and we were battling sin and Satan together. 

I fear that these relationships are far and few between for some of us.  I fear that we wear a mask because if people knew who we really were they would not associate with us. Therefore, there are a lot of lonely Christians that attend church, but they are not "The Church."  What is "The Church?" Acts 2 introduces "The Church." (Acts 2:37-47  Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins… 40  Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church – about three thousand in all.  42  They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer… 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity –47  all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.)  "The Church" is the gathering together of believers having fellowship with each other.  This has a very significant meaning.  In the Greek the word fellowship means (fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse).  Fellowship is not a potluck with some strangers sharing pleasantries.  It is the inviting of one's life into another’s.  They would talk about life and struggles.  The image I get is of three neighbors daily sitting on the front porch together talking about the day. 

I recently went to a leadership summit in Minneapolis Minnesota with the Evangelical Fee Church.  They had a gentleman from Kenya Africa share about worldviews.  This gentleman talked about how a secular humanistic worldview leads to loneliness and materialism.  The only relationships they have are with people they can get something from.  There is no community. The biblical worldview is all about community.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the perfect example of this community.  Paul even writes in Philippians 2 to have the same servant attitude as Christ Jesus. 

I was recently on the phone with my mentor Jim.  We were catching up because we had not talked in months.  When Jim felt we had caught up enough he asked me a very difficult question.  He asked "tell me something you don't want me to know?"  It took me a second to answer but I answered honestly.

 The question I have is do you have someone in your life that asks you the tough questions?  Are you in true biblical fellowship with someone?  This is something that will take time and effort but it is something we all need. 

 Now, how does this relate to Elim? I want Elim to be a place where true biblical fellowship happens; where we can empty our closets and not carry the burden of sins past and present.  One of the ways we do this is by offering Community Groups that are an educational and relational environment where people are challenged to grow in their relationship with God and one another.  Our hope is to build relationships where true biblical fellowship is taking place.  If this is happening it will bring unity and vibrancy to our community of faith.  The world will see a difference and want what our God is offering; his grace, love, and the forgiveness of sins.