'Outside' gatherings help bond believers
By Mike Haynes
One of the little
Sunday school rooms in the basement of my hometown church holds no more than 15
people, and one night around 1970, six or eight church members, some high
school age and some older, sat in a tight circle of metal folding chairs.
A group of
Methodists from Vega had come to McLean for the weekend – not for a basketball
tournament or a rodeo, but to share their personal stories of commitment to
God.
I don’t
remember details, but decades later, the overall message sticks with me. Those
people who were just like us simply told us how they had begun living out the
example of Jesus. Until then, I had heard only local pastors and visiting
evangelists talking seriously about close encounters with Christ. Now, I saw a
blond-haired young man about my age telling a small group in that basement room
how his life had changed when he allowed God into his life every day.
The people
from Vega were participating in the Lay Witness Mission, at the time a ministry
of the United Methodist Church that was active in the Texas Panhandle. It still
exists as part of Aldersgate Renewal Ministries.
A story by
Eboni Graham in last Saturday’s newspaper brought that long-ago weekend to
mind. She wrote about the IF organization, founded in 2013 in Austin, which
will have an IF: Amarillo women’s gathering Feb. 6-7. (See http://amarillo.com/lifestyle/faith/2015-01-23/if-amarillo-brings-women-together.)
IF was
created to offer “a space for women to wrestle with essential questions of
faith, to dream and to connect during a two-day gathering,” according to the
story.
Coincidentally,
one of the local IF leaders is a woman from Vega.
Through the
years, my own faith has been strengthened and invigorated by such Christian
groups, both church-sponsored and outside, or parachurch organizations. After
the Lay Witness Mission faded in this area, it wasn’t long before the Walk to
Emmaus, Methodist-sponsored but welcoming all denominations, became a huge
influence in the Panhandle.
Emmaus has
touched men, women and teenagers from virtually every type of church, and I
know of several people whose three-day Walks led them to full-time ministry.
The Walk to
Emmaus still is a vital movement in the region, though not quite as widespread
as it was in the 1990s and 2000s. It has continued alongside other activities, some
that light fires for a short time and others that last for decades.
The Promise
Keepers men’s ministry, based in Colorado, made better husbands and better
Christians out of thousands in this area. Many denominations, including some
Catholics, worked for weeks to prepare Amarillo for the Franklin Graham
Festival in 2000, a football stadium event that attracted crowds from all over
West Texas.
The
Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a constant positive presence in area
schools. The Navigators have for 80 years sought “to know Christ and make him
known” on college campuses and military bases. Emmaus spawned Kairos, a highly
effective prison ministry in which laymen share their faith stories with the
“men in white.” The Catholic equivalent to Emmaus is Cursillo, which also
builds individuals’ relationships with God.
Such
“outside” or “extra” Christian groups tend to excite people, sometimes because
they’re the new kid on the block. It’s easy for even committed Christians to
become complacent, even bored, if all they do is sit in a pew once or twice a
week. Ministries such as Promise Keepers and IF can be valuable “add-ons” to
keep Christians active.
But
parachurch groups and even church-sponsored activities are not meant to be the
focus of faith. They only support the church that God created. They are a great
addition, but a Christian’s home base should be his or her local church.
Jesus said
in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (RSV) Those
gatherings can be in a sanctuary, in a house, in an arena, even in a coffee
shop.
I love it
when Christians of different backgrounds get together. It’s even better when we
open up and talk about our own experiences with God.
* * *
Mike Haynes teaches journalism at Amarillo
College. He can be reached at AC, the Amarillo Globe-News or haynescolumn@hotmail.com. Go to www.haynescolumn.blogspot.com for other recent columns.
