Besties

People come to church expecting to make friends. But you can't plan for friendship. And it's not what the church promises to be. The Bible speaks of church as a holy temple, a purified bride, a flock of sheep, a family of adopted children . . . but never a group of friends. It's been said that Christians are likely to leave new churches within six months if they haven't made seven friends.1 We should work hard to provide environments conducive to making friends, but perhaps we also need to alter people's expectations. Our society offers friendships; we offer family. And the thing about family is that, it's family. You don't have to wait to see if you connect with seven people; you're one of us from the very beginning, bound together by Jesus' blood. We need to work hard at conveying this to people and living as if it is so.


1 E Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches, 290.