The Church is about People

October 3, 2024

From Pastor Joseph Wamack

Hello MAC family!  It is good to be home! I know what you are thinking…” but Preacher, where have you been?” Pastor Eileen and I both attended a Southern Union Conference called RISE. Once every five years, all of the Adventist conferences in the Southern Union (the southeast US essentially) gather together. This time the conference was in Orlando Florida.

There were many good workshops, worship experiences, good food and great fellowship. We have a lot of great pastors in the Union, all serving a great God. One seminar I attended caught my attention quickly because it talked about something close to my heart. The speaker was a “data collector” as he called himself-sort of a church statistician. He deals with asking people questions, like-why people join the church, why they leave, their denomination, their age-all factual data that helps us to see trends and draw conclusions and form plans to grow our faith and church.

One of his key points was, over half the people that leave the church say the reason they left was because they had no friends in the church, or it didn’t seem like it was worth getting up and going. And over half the people who come to back to church, come back because they are lonely or what to make friends. It had nothing to do with theology or beliefs about the divinity of Jesus or the Second Coming etc. It was “I need someone or a few someones in my life to stand by me and help me.”

One of my main values is that being part of a church is to become part of a community. Yes, we can be a Christian and never attend a church-but why would someone want to do that? The church is a community of faith. It is a place to find support, people who will challenge you, love on you and help you as you do the same for them. The church is about people.

Relationships provide the warmth in a church. Talking before or after the church service is just as much a part of the church experience as sitting together and singing, praying, or hearing the message. I say- “People are more important than programs. Programs are just a means to get to the people.” When the Bible says, “God so loved the world,” it is not talking about the rocks and trees in the world-it is talking about PEOPLE.

We want to promote a culture of acceptance, hospitality, and inclusion. People come-not just entering the building, but entering our culture, our family, our ways. I want us to be a healthy church-that prioritizes relationships over religion, people, over programs, and community over compliance. If God sees us and loves us as we are-isn’t this the least, we can do for each other? After all-I don’t sit in the pew because I am perfect. I sit in the pew because I know I am NOT perfect. I see my need, and I come to spend time with you beside me, as we approach the Perfect Saviour together.