This last Clarion issue of the year always lands on your family room table just before or during the Christmas season. In other words, it comes to you at a time that is considered by many to be the most inviting, warm, and magical time of the year. Let’s admit that there is something special about this season. Many look forward to it with a great degree of anticipation.

Why the Warmth?⤒🔗

What accounts for this? No doubt a combination of factors come into play here. The main one lies in the fact that around this time of year we celebrate together a very special birth, an utterly unique birth. The birth of the Son of God! Our Saviour is born! That alone is sufficient reason for special music in our churches, our homes, our schools, and, I might even add, the malls, the businesses, and the concert halls of the nation. The church in turn augments this with advent worship services and a special service on December 25.

In addition, our homes also take on a different aura at this time of year. Not all are into special decorations, but it is hard to find a home among us that does not sport some of the trappings of the season. And what about the turkey? Rare is the home that does not organize a meal to which family and friends are invited. After all, this is a time for get-togethers, for gatherings, for fellowship. It’s a time for singing, giving, sharing, and lots of love.

Cold in the Church←⤒🔗

And yet, while there is warmth in many of our homes, there is not always warmth in the church. As a matter of fact, there are some believers who absolutely dread that time of year called “Christmas and New Year’s Eve.” They dread it because they have nowhere to go. No one invites them. No one thinks of them. No one shows them any compassion. They are alone. It’s cold in the church.

Yes, and that brings me to the larger issue. It is an issue that I have written about before and it has to do with the atmosphere and behaviour in some of our churches. Some complain that our churches are not warm, that they are devoid of a true sense of welcome, that it is hard to get in, that there are a lot of cliques, that large families dominate and are so busy only with themselves, that pleasantries may be exchanged after the worship service but it is all so superficial and rarely leads to the formation of lasting relationships of friendship and fellowship.

So, is this true? Have you measured the temperature lately in your local church? Have you ever bothered to put yourself in the shoes of a visitor or a new comer? Have you even once taken the time to discuss this with family and friends? Just how inviting are we? What sort of a spiritual oasis are we? What kind of an image do we project?

Is this Biblical?←⤒🔗

But even more important, how faithful are we today to the biblical model of the church? For what is the church? Of course, it is the people of God, the people who have had their sins bought, paid for, and forgiven by God through the great work of his Son.

Now, you might say that this is putting it generally. To be complete we would have to go into all sorts of biblical and dogmatic definitions and distinctions as to what is the church. But that is not my aim in this editorial. My aim is simply to remind you that the church is more than a gathering, assembly, or congregation. It is also a fellowship. It is a community of believers who together share the most precious things in all of the world. It is a community that constantly looks up to the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

At the same time, however, it is also a community that looks sideways, that sees its neighbours and fellow saints in a new light and with a new responsibility. Together we confess the communion of saints. Together we have communion with the Triune God and together we says “Yes and Amen” to the words “everyone is duty-bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit of other members” (LD 21, Q/A 55).

Now these are good biblical summarizing words. They are based on what the Spirit says to the churches through the Apostle Paul. In Romans 12 he uses body language to describe the church and tells us pointedly that “in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.” In 1 Corinthians 12 he reminds us that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” In the next chapter he stresses that love is the greatest of all virtues and qualities. And then he is not speaking about self-love either. No, he is referring to neighbour love. In Philippians 2 the same apostle uses the humility of Christ to teach the church and its members that “each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Need I go on? Surely, the message of the Scriptures is clear. The church of Jesus Christ is called upon to be a real and genuine fellowship of the Spirit, in the Spirit, and by the Spirit. To ignore one’s fellow believer is a sin! To greet them with fine sounding words but to leave it there is a disservice. To nod at a distance and plant a smile on your face but never to extend the right hand of fellowship is little more than formalism.

Excuses, Excuses!←⤒🔗

Naturally, there will be some who remark, “But I’m not good at going up to people that I do not know” or “I’m just not comfortable inviting these people to my house” or “I have no time because I’m so busy already with all the family and friends that I currently have.” Well, let’s call these what they are, that is, “excuses, poor and pathetic excuses!” They are unworthy of those who have been bought by the blood of the Lamb and welcomed into the fellowship of the Triune God.

In Article 29 of our Belgic Confession, we come face-to-face with the three marks of the true church: biblical preaching, right sacraments, and earnest discipline. One of the mistakes that we make with these marks is that we often think that they are exhaustive. In other words, there are three, and no more. Wrong! Read the book of Acts and the epistles of Paul, Peter, and especially John, and you will discover a fourth mark and it is called “the exercise of the fellowship of the saints.”        

A Challenge to You All←⤒🔗

In light of all of the above, I would like to throw out a challenge to all of our readers and it is this: dare to examine the state of fellowship in your local church and dare to do something about it. Consider the newcomers and regular visitors and do more than just look at them from a distance. Approach them, invite them over, get to know them and look for ways to love and serve them. Quite simply, do for them what your Saviour has done for you.

If you do this you will accomplish a number of things. For one, you will drive up the temperature in your church. Secondly, you will be living up to your calling to look out for the “benefit and well-being” of others. Thirdly, you will bring glory to your God. After all, do you really think that God is served well by churches that claim to be true but are actually cold?    

May this festive season be a time of true rejoicing and may it give evidence that true, deep and warm fellowship is alive among us. May everyone who belongs to your local church be able to say sincerely, “it may be cold out there, but it’s warm in here – warm with the love, care, and compassion of Jesus Christ.”