The Local Church Is a Sandbox

A woman in my church confessed that praying aloud frightens her. “What if my theology sounds shallow?” she said. Her transparency prompted others in our small group Bible study to chime in. Yes, we encouraged her, Christians don’t always know how to pray aloud. She was not alone in her feelings, but during that season, we studied Colossians and happened upon God’s triunity. Our theology grew as did our affections.

When we participate in the local church, the Holy Spirit changes us to resemble Jesus more. Think of church as a sandbox where we practice and experience the reality of our faith. Whether you picture a sandbox where children play and develop cognitive skills, or a sandbox in engineering terms where a product is tested and refined, the local church fosters growth and endurance. The church is filled with people like you and me who wrestle with pride and selfish motives, similar to the child who grapples for possession of the nearest shovel or bucket. Yet God refines us, sanctifying and transforming us, often as we interact. Have you considered how God’s process of transformation relates to your involvement with God’s people in the local church?

Participation as a Startup

For starters, a small group Bible study provides you with a sandbox to participate. Despite my concern that I was too busy to commit, I joined a bi-monthly, Tuesday-morning women’s Bible study. Some Tuesday mornings, I’m flooded with excuses to skip, but then I remember how together we open the Bible and expect to be transformed. In that sandbox, we confess worry and misguided strivings. We remind each other of God’s trustworthiness and Jesus’s death and resurrection. The reality of the gospel sinks into our unique situations as we rehearse Scripture together.

When my friend mentioned her fear of praying aloud, she received neither flattery nor reproach. Camaraderie increased as we admitted Christian lingo sometimes inhibits how we view prayer. Next, our theology deepened through our discussion and study of God’s Word. In church community, we study Scripture not to flaunt knowledge but to encounter Jesus, fully divine and fully human, whom we worship as Lord and in whom resides everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). We can expect to resemble Jesus more as we become more acquainted with God and his people.

I once led a playgroup for young moms and their toddlers, and these weekly gatherings at church provided friendships. A new friend, Katie, lent me Gloria Furman’s book Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home. Katie often talked of how Jesus’s good news spilled into everyday life. At the time I didn’t realize Katie’s friendship was mentoring me. I strived for perfection as a young mom yet felt discouraged when worries plagued me and when I failed to grow in godliness. But through discipleship, God turned my gaze to Christ’s perfection. He, who promises to accompany and sustain, desires to see his good news worked into everyday life, often through one believer to another.

God does this sanctifying work in believers through the work of the Holy Spirit, and church community creates the sandbox for participating and beholding God. God’s story—creation, fall, redemption, restoration—grants a clear picture of the gospel. If you lack understanding, ask God and ask the people he’s placed around you. Your local church contains people who, like you, are pursuing God. With gentleness, consider the questions others ask. Your participation at church is likely participation in the very sanctification God has planned for you.

Participation as a Process

How else might we begin to resemble Jesus as the gospel shifts our affections? When I’m at church, it’s easy to stand around and chat with people I know. It’s more challenging to strike up a conversation with someone I haven’t yet met. But God’s divine power prompts me to live with affection for others (2 Pet. 1:7), so I’m finding courage and reason to greet a person I sit near in the sanctuary or walk past in the foyer when hurrying to get coffee. I’m reconditioned to view the church as a sandbox—a particular place where I can act out a welcoming posture.

One rainy Sunday, an elderly church member, who serves as a church greeter, left his post at the entrance doors to meet families in the parking lot. With his outstretched umbrella, he beckoned us under. I was grateful for the covering but anticipated an awkward huddle, my family of five and this greeter, shuffling toward the entrance while dodging parking lot puddles. Instead, he handed me the umbrella and left us. Then, in the downpour, he jogged back through the weather to hold open the church door. I was stunned. He rescued me from smeared mascara and frizzy hair, but more profound was his servanthood. In his small volunteer position, he imitated Christ. And it’s been my experience that as I see church members serving one another, my desire to reciprocate grows. Similarly, when we come to know more of the goodness of Christ, we love others more. As John writes, we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:10–11, 19).

For a long time, I didn’t want to write much about the local church, though I regularly wrote about other subjects, many of which are tied directly to Christianity and the things of God. I’d just emerged from a season of discontent, and though I attended regularly and kept my serving commitments at church, I had no stories to celebrate the local church. After that umbrella incident, I felt a shift. Could I identify small ways I’d been changed by participating? Could I recognize that God was transforming me to look more like his Son? Because “God abides in us and his love is perfected in us,” the sandbox of the local church is one place where we love and serve others (1 John 4:12). Then, as we serve well within the boundaries of the local church, we learn to better serve and love people in our neighborhoods and workplaces.

I wonder if serving as a simple door-holder primed the man holding the umbrella to reflect Jesus. We resemble Christ when we participate with a proper “why.” Why do we serve? If it’s for self-recognition, then we miss the pleasure of for whom we gather. Sometimes my motives call me to repent, and I’m realizing this repentance brings joy as I recenter myself on Jesus. Evidence of sanctification shows up in new habits and thought patterns as I serve in the sandbox of the local church.

Do you desire to look more like Jesus? If you’re just beginning the process, build friendships at church, specifically through a small group Bible study. Ask questions when you don’t understand a particular passage in the Bible or if a theological concept confuses you. If you’re further along in your faith, make visible your faith and joy as you greet those you walk past inside the church building. Serve to reflect Jesus, the source of your hope and transformation. You were justified when you first trusted Christ—now continue in him as you participate in the local church. The sandbox of the local church is a place where you can expect the Holy Spirit to increase your faith and maturity.