Where Church Really Happens!

“I’m very emotional,” my neighbor said to me a few times as he and I watched the team of volunteers install a beautiful new ramp at his trailer. In one Saturday these kind-hearted and generous believers working with Love INC Lake County Southwest installed two entrances to my neighbor’s trailer: a new ramp for his scooter and the reassembly of the front stairs to the back. As each board was put in place and each person stepped up to help, B became overwhelmed. In a good way.

It was only a few months ago that I, some people from Fusion and other Wauconda-ites moved B and his two kids from their rental home to a trailer here in Woodland Village. (That blog post can be read HERE). He was a desperate man, with few real relationships and significant challenges. These challenges became greater as he lost his job due to state funding cut backs for the disabled. Yet over the last month or two, as Eric and others from Fusion established and fostered relationship with him, B found the strength to reach out again.

Having made a commitment to Christ as a child but not having really lived it for many years, he now recommitted his life and found new power to move forward despite all the issues he faced. As he opened himself up again, realizing that we were there for him no matter what his circumstances were and that we would like him no matter what others might say, God brought a freedom he could not contain. His countenance, his voice and his demeanor were open and even joyful despite the bleakness of his financial situation. What changed most for him was that he had found friends who lived out their faith and loved him unconditionally.

On Saturday B and I sat in awe of the ramp. But what awed both of us most as we talked was that it was the relationships made in the last few months that really had changed his life. People, like B, need help in tangible ways sometimes. They need a ramp to help them get in and out of their homes, or a new door to keep them warm in the winter, or new brakes to keep them safe. Those things are needed, no doubt. But what is most important are the relationships that give strength and joy. Without people loving us and caring for us, even when we have nothing to offer, we will never succeed in life. That’s true for me as well as for my neighbors, like B. And M. And C. And the five other neighbors I met Saturday. We need love and relationship just as we need air and water.

As I interacted with my neighbors, the volunteers and with B, I found myself worshiping God in the purest form possible. I was being and living Christ! Not that I was doing anything special. I was simply PRESENT as Jesus was present. I found a strength and a power in simply listening to and talking with my neighbors that I had rarely found in the four walls of any church building. As people would ask, “Where is Fusion Church?” We would answer, “We are scattered all over.” The definition of Church for us has nothing to do with a building or a meeting time but in the relationships and places where we live and work each and every day.

This truth was never more real to me than on Saturday. I had CHURCH Saturday and it was nowhere near a steeple, a cross or even lots of other believers. It was in the World, surrounded by people in need, drunks, felons, and people finding joy in the unconditional love of God as demonstrated through his people. Now THAT is where Church happens!

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