This coming Sunday I begin a new series I’m calling There’s No Place Like Home.” It is based off two things:
- OVCF’s mission and vision (see our website) https://www.ovcf.org/ovcf_wp/
- My strong desire that OVCF be seen as a home, a safe place for people to experience love and grace and healing.
You walk into most homes in Everytown, USA and it is not uncommon to find some type of photo album. Some are very prominent and found on coffee tables or end tables. Some are in boxes of all shapes, sized and condition. You might find faded pictures, old polaroids, old black and white pictures, and some with faded writing on the back. Family and home is important to us.
Church should be like that. It should be a place where people can make themselves at home and feel loved. The simple truth is the Christian life cannot be lived properly as a loner. Do I have to remind you what happened during COVID and the social isolation that played havoc (and still does) with the mental health of just about everyone, especially kids?
My series is designed to bring people back to the idea that church is a Home, a safe place. Here are the titles of the series:
- We Speak Safe Place- Eph. 2:19-22
- We Speak Truth- Romans 1:18-32; 2:1-16; 3:9-28
- We Speak Jesus- Col. 1:15-22
- We Speak Fresh Starts- Philemon
- We Speak Changed Lives- Col. 2:6-15
- We Speak Real Life- Rom. 6:11-23
I owe a big thanks to the late Lee Eclov (“Feels Like Home”) for putting me on this path; Craig Cooper and Walker Hayes (“Glad You’re Here); Drew Dyck (“Just Show Up”) and Karl Vaters (“De-Sizing the Church?). I’m praying for big things during this series. Join me in that please, as well as watching online (YouTube or Facebook. Links can be found at the above website) or in person.
Oh, Bill, this sounds like a fantastic sermon series that truly speaks to the needs of the time and place in which we find ourselves. I love that our Sunday bulletin has an image of our church with the words, “Welcome Home” beneath it. We should always be a place where others feel accepted and loved just as they are.
Blessings!
You should post a picture of that bulletin sometime in your blog, Martha. I would love to see it. I would totally agree with you on your assessment of the church, although I find myself having to also talk about the reality of sin and God’s judgment (discipline) of it.