Visitors—Acts 2 and Ephesians 4

“Visitor.” I hate that term. It carries a sense of non-belonging or anti-kinship. I understand that they are called “visitors” because they “are just passing through” or “worship somewhere else on a regular basis.” Yet we would not dare call our own family members “visitors” when they come to see us! This term sends faulty, misguided, and unscriptural messages when used to talk about our transient brothers and sisters in Christ.

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

-Acts 2:46-47

God is making additions to His church every time a non-believer or a misguided disciple learns the way of Christ more fully and then puts on Christ in baptism. In Acts 18:26, Apollos stands as an example of a misguided disciple of Jesus who needed further teaching since he only understood the baptism of John the Baptist. God, not man, is responsible for adding this new person to the church. They do not transfer their “membership” to another congregation because they belong to the same “one Body” Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:4-6.

There is one Body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

In 2010, my family visited Melaka, during a tour of Malaysia during our summer break. We arrived in the city during the week and began to immerse ourselves in the local culture. We were very unimpressed with Melaka until Sunday morning. After a rough night’s sleep, we nearly decided to hold a little worship ourselves instead of meeting with the local family. Thankfully, we determined we were being “toonsies" as my dad would say (think wusses) about the lack of sleep and “girded our loins” instead. As we showed up to the store front (Malaysian churches are not allowed to have buildings of their own), we were engulfed by the local Christians. Since we were simply expecting to be greeted, this took us by great surprise. After the worship service was over, we were invited to lunch where the locals refused to let us even take out our wallet! After lunch, we received a breakfast invitation at a nearby restaurant and a supper invite for Monday night at one of their homes and a breakfast invitation for Tuesday! This congregation was saying, “You are one of us. You belong here.” In short, we were treated like FAMILY not visitors. Our outlook on Melaka changed literally in 1-day - a day with His people!

When Christians are traveling through, let us treat them as though they belong. These immersed believers are part of the same Family as Christians in the local congregation…God’s Family. As we treat them as such, we honor God, we send a message of solidarity to any non-believers in attendance, and we may just encourage everyone to walk with or closer to our Father.

Training the Body—Ephesians 4

On a couple of occasions since we have been here, different people have asked me if I minded sharing the class and preaching load. Each time, I told them I would be happy to allow someone else to teach or preach on occasion. This is not because I am trying to get out of work, but simply put I see part of my job as training others to teach and be productive workers in His Kingdom thus strengthening their faith. As one of my professors used to tell us, our job was to work ourselves out of a job. By this he meant our job was to train others to handle our duties when we were not around to do so. This included but was not limited to our teaching responsibilities. People learn by doing, making mistakes, and then trying again.

Before moving overseas, I offered my services to the local preacher on a couple of different occasions to hone my preaching skills and give him an evening or two off. However, he was either unwilling or unable to relinquish his pulpit. Maybe he thought the elders would be upset. Perhaps he felt threatened by me (I have no idea why!). It is possible he had a year-long plan and he did not want to get off-track. Whatever the reason, I never understood this refusal in light of what I had been taught at Harding and what I had read in Scripture.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body,, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

-Ephesians 4:11-16

Some are better preachers and teachers. Some are better song leaders. Some are better at offering prayers up to God. One thing that the mission field helped me fully realize was that people need to be ready to step in and do whatever is needed even if they are not particularly “qualified” to do so. This is not limited to the leadership duties in the public worship of the church. This includes visiting the sick, encouragement, leading a Bible study, praying in a Bible study, and much more. It does not matter if we enjoy these or not. Our goal should always be to do things that will glorify God and build up His church. When we take on different responsibilities, whether publicly or not, our faith grows and we are less likely to be tossed around like children.