We had a good night last night with the Wheatland Mission crowd, so today I wanted to list out some of the things (there are many!) that I like about my church.
1. The people - I feel so fortunate to go the church with the coolest people in the city of Wichita! Everytime I meet a new person I am wowed by their story and excited about the things I am going to learn from them and with them in the future.
2. The lack of history - I really love that we never get into situations where we have to deal with "but we've always done it that way". Everything is new, so there is no history to base it on.
3. The kids - I know, the kids are people too, so they are technically included in the first point, but I think they are special enough that they should get their own point too. Yesterday I was talking with someone about how unique and fun each one of the kids are and it got me so excited for our elementary kids to get to middle school so they can be a youth group. They will be one fun group of kids! I can't wait to go on a road trip with them! (Seriously here - no sarcasm - I love trips with middle school kids!)
4. The willingness to serve - I've never been in a church where so many people are willing to help at a moment's notice. I don't think there is a person there that I couldn't tap on the shoulder and ask them to come help in the nursery at a moments notice. Okay maybe Paul, but only because he is busy preaching.
5. Our space - I know we are looking to move someday, and I'm sure it will be a good move, but it's really nice to have the outdoor picnic area and lots of grass to play games in like we did last night.
6. My house church - I love all the people, but I especially love the families in my house church and I miss meeting with them when my schedule gets busy and I miss a week, or a month as is the current situation.
7. The grace and forgiveness - nobody ever gets mad at me when I forget things (which I am very good at hiding, but actually happens more often than you'd think! For example, I have not sent any kid birthday postcards in three weeks. Sorry September birthday kids!) I'm so thankful that Michel and Monica never made me feel bad for not being able to get up and make it to breakfast at 6:30 on Tuesdays. Instead of making me feel like a bad Christian, they just made it known that they missed me when I couldn't be there.
8. Making me think, and study, and pray - I haven't been very good at keeping up, but I do love reading the insights on the many blogs our members have started. They make me think, and challenge me to look at myself differently. I also appreciate the sermons, the house church studies, and am looking forward to the upcoming study we are going to do on Wednesday nights.
9. Saturday nights - I will be fine if we move to Sundays in the future, but for right now, I'm loving meeting on Saturday nights and having my day of rest of Sundays!
10. A sense of belonging - as a single adult, I appreciate being in a church with lots of families and kids of every age. I've always disliked singles ministries and prefer to be in groups with people in every circumstance of life. I appreciate having a church where everyone can belong.
