When I came to YWAM over a year ago I was ready for a break from the church. I had been burned by multiple churches, I was at a place where I was tired and weary from the problems that come with a church full of human people and I saw YWAM as a way to experience the upsides of church without walking through the negative aspects.
During my first year on staff I indulged myself into worship events on base but never really connected myself to a local church here. The amount of time that was spent engaging within churchlike activities on base and the lingering thought that what I did and what I knew made me too good for the un-perfect local church, kept me away from calling a church home.
As I look back over my first year here though, this mindset that I arrived here with has been completely replaced with a mindset that has opened my eyes to the beauty of the local church. What really opened my eyes to this was time overseas on outreach. For those of you who don’t know, outreaches are always chaotic; despite how many hours of prep go into outreach, plans often change and there is often very little structure. Through all this chaos, the one thing that I realized was always there and was always steady, was the local church. Yes, it was in a language that we couldn’t understand, and yes, we were surrounded by people of a different race, but we were all there under one roof worshiping the same God. Despite being continually surrounded by chaotic circumstances we had no control over, the local church was always there as a steady, calm and strong anchor for us.
As soon as I got back from Haiti and the DR, I started connecting myself to a small local church and it has been such a blessing. On a good weekend 60'ish people will be in attendance (most of who are over 50 and your typical Montana/mountain people), but I have developed such a great sense of gratefulness and belonging among them (as they are some of the kindest / most caring people I have ever met). I am on the worship team and also help run the middleschool youth group/bible study. Through all of this and being a part of my church, God really has opened my eyes to the beauty of the local church and has rekindled my love for his bride, for his church.
During my first year on staff I indulged myself into worship events on base but never really connected myself to a local church here. The amount of time that was spent engaging within churchlike activities on base and the lingering thought that what I did and what I knew made me too good for the un-perfect local church, kept me away from calling a church home.
As I look back over my first year here though, this mindset that I arrived here with has been completely replaced with a mindset that has opened my eyes to the beauty of the local church. What really opened my eyes to this was time overseas on outreach. For those of you who don’t know, outreaches are always chaotic; despite how many hours of prep go into outreach, plans often change and there is often very little structure. Through all this chaos, the one thing that I realized was always there and was always steady, was the local church. Yes, it was in a language that we couldn’t understand, and yes, we were surrounded by people of a different race, but we were all there under one roof worshiping the same God. Despite being continually surrounded by chaotic circumstances we had no control over, the local church was always there as a steady, calm and strong anchor for us.
As soon as I got back from Haiti and the DR, I started connecting myself to a small local church and it has been such a blessing. On a good weekend 60'ish people will be in attendance (most of who are over 50 and your typical Montana/mountain people), but I have developed such a great sense of gratefulness and belonging among them (as they are some of the kindest / most caring people I have ever met). I am on the worship team and also help run the middleschool youth group/bible study. Through all of this and being a part of my church, God really has opened my eyes to the beauty of the local church and has rekindled my love for his bride, for his church.