What it means to “go and be the church”

Confession: Last week I was more challenged in my faith by a Muslim friend than by my Christian friends. 

I have a lot of Christian friends and most of the people I hang out with are Christians. Of course I have a handful of non-Christian friends and family members whom I talk with but honestly speaking, this demographic gets a very small fraction of my time and calendar space. Admitting that makes me a little self-conscious. But that is not what I am going to write about. I want to write about what it means to “go and be the church.” You see, I hear this encouragement every Sunday as our church service ends. We are sent out with that message and the intent is pretty simple: help others know about Jesus by how you live. 

It is easy for other Christians to see evidence of Jesus’ love and power in our lives because in some ways we are speaking the same language. Yes, I need to “be the church” to my Christian friends but I also need to show Christ’s love to the people in my life who aren’t Christians. While we are encouraged to be the church to all people, there is an unspoken emphasis on showing Christ’s love to non-believers because as Christians we take seriously the command to share the good news of the gospel with people who don’t know about it. 

Over the weekend I had a great opportunity to show Christ’s love to one of my Muslim neighbors. This neighbor was having a party of sorts to celebrate her twins’ birthday. While I genuinely care about this family and desire to be a good friend to them, I don’t particularly like kids’ birthday parties. In fact, the day before this party I tasked my husband with taking one of our kids to a different child’s birthday party because I just didn’t want to be at a children’s birthday party. When I told my neighbor that I couldn’t fully commit but would attend based on how my family was feeling energy wise by the end of the weekend, she responded in an unexpected way. 

Instead of masking her disappointment, she spoke honestly to me about her feelings. She explained that the party was going to be a small gathering of the people she considers her closest friends. The type of friends that she considers family since her own family is on the other side of the world. I was honored that she felt that way about us and decided that I could put my fatigue aside and we would attend for a few hours since our presence mattered that much to her. 

The group was small. The guests included my family, two other families, a grandfather figure, and a child who was dropped off by her father. I ended up talking quite a bit to one of the parents who is considering homeschooling for her child. She asked me many questions about the micro school my children attend. I tried to give helpful information and made sure to let her know that the micro school is faith based and has Christian values. This woman shared that this wouldn’t be a problem since they are a Christian family. Later I found out that the guest who was a grandfather figure is also a Christian. I am not sure where the other guests stand spiritually but at the very least, this meant that over half of the party guests were Christians. Let me say it again: over half of the people at this small party that my Muslim friend considers her American family are Christians. That is pretty amazing.

This is what it means to “go and be the church.” We make time for people and love them. Not just our Christian friends—sometimes our Muslim neighbors. We may not consider them as close to us as family but in this case, we are the ones that they consider their family. What we get out of the relationship does not have to be equal. The spiritual state does not have to be the same. We can even fumble our way through conversations of broken English. The power of the gospel is greater than these differences. 

When my neighbor explained why she wanted to have this gathering/birthday party for her children she said this: Julia (this is what she calls me), I cannot give anything to God. He has given me everything. There is nothing I can give to Him or do for Him. But I can give to people. That is why I want to honor the special people in my life. I can serve them. I can give to them. Please come. 

Her words hit home for me. As a Christian I should not have originally hesitated to show up for her when she invited us over. I should have seen her desire for friendship and community and prioritized that over a nap or watching a meaningless show on Netflix. But instead I made excuses in my head and listed all of the reasons I could justify not going. Meanwhile, she didn’t want me to give at all—she wanted to give to me. She wanted to spend two days shopping for and prepping food that is native to her home country so she could share it with me. At first I viewed the invitation as her asking me for my time when it turns out she was asking me if I would accept her time. That humbled me. God used my Muslim friend to teach me about what it means to go and be the church and what it means to show up for people. 

The party was beautiful and special. The children played. The adults laughed. Naturally, things got broken and the toddler had more meltdowns than I can count. And yet there was light on my friend’s face. She was beaming with joy and filled with love. She was surrounded in the love of her chosen family. She chose Christians as her family—people who choose Jesus. I pray a day will come that she will see that the love she feels from her chosen family is not from us but from Jesus alone. I know her chosen family will keep loving my neighbor and her family. We will keep showing up. This is what it means to be the church. 

Let’s go.