Bildeston Baptist Church

real people, real life, real hope

Graeme’s Page October 2007

A Normal Church?

I recently spoke with a lady who has started coming to the church. She has no church background, but because of her friendships with people in the church, she wanted to know more about what they had in their lives and to see if it would work for her. After coming to the church for a few weeks, she has decided that she wants to follow Jesus for herself. As we prayed, she repented, asked Jesus to be her Lord and also asked the Holy Spirit to live within her, it was nice to know that she and I had played a small part in a party breaking out in heaven (Luke 15 v10).

During our conversation she happened to say; ‘I like your church better than a normal church.’ I’ve been thinking about that statement since, at first it took me by surprise, after all to say that someone or something is abnormal is usually an insult. She talked at length about how helpful the church had been, so she clearly didn’t intend to insult us. It dawned on me that she was actually saying that us not being like the other churches that she had been to was a good thing. There were three things that she had found in our church that made us different to normal churches:

Welcome – She was surprised how friendly we all were and by how welcome she was made.

A spiritual presence – Each week so far when she has come, she has reached a point in the service when she has been moved to tears (this is usually as we are singing). She has been overwhelmed by a sense of love and being cleansed as she has been touched by God on an emotional level.

Reality – the church service has helped her in her real and everyday life and her life is better as a consequence.

This is the first time in my life when I have been proud to be a part of something abnormal and I thank God for the many other abnormal churches in this area where God is working and touching peoples lives as we let Him have his way.

Graeme

Office Address:

Duke Street,

Bildeston,

Suffolk