Guest Blog Post: Meeting by Design
by Joni Toppe, author and speaker at www.morninggloryministries.com
Author of The Power of a Well-Placed Yes: God’s Abundant Faithfulness in a Small Church
A group from the church, where my husband is pastor, visits residents at the nursing home every week. One lady from the church who goes frequently, Charlotte, has a dry, witty sense of humor and the cutest sly grin. She speaks in a soft tone and often darts her eyes to make sure I catch her point when she tells a story. One week, she tried to visit with one of the residents, who was clearly distracted. The woman kept looking at my husband, Ernest.
Charlotte tried to pull her back into a conversation. “Have you seen your daughter lately?”
The woman did not answer but kept looking toward Ernest, so she tried to distract her again, to no avail. “I realized that the woman’s glance had intensified into a stare,” Charlotte said, recounting the scene to me. So, she’d given in to the awkward moment and paused to glance at Ernest herself, wondering what had caught the woman’s attention. “So, do you like the color Ernest is wearing today?” she asked the woman.
Then Charlotte raised her eyebrow and lowered her voice to me. I leaned in to hear the punchline, wondering how the woman had answered. “No, I like the shape of the man,” Charlotte quoted her preoccupied friend.
Charlotte is five foot one and eleven years my senior, Generally, she’s very composed, but that day every inch of her laughed as she told me this story.
Laughter is one of the loving benefits God offers that will renew our youth. Those moments happen when we are together. That is one good reason to spend time with our church family.
I’ve been a pastor’s wife in a small rural church in Texas for twenty-nine years. Oh, the stories I could tell. There are the ones about falling in love with families only to see them move away to another town. Those stories left me heartbroken.
There are stories about finding a new best friend at church when I least expected it. There are stories of learning how to trust God from kids I taught along the way.
The best stories though are about how God continues to surprise me even though I know just how grand he is. When my husband and I came to serve at this church, there were a mere ten people there. They had been listening to sermons on cassette tape for weeks because they could not find a pastor. They refused to close the door. They could not help but believe that God still had a purpose for them in this little community of less than 2,000 people. At that time, the town was about half the size.
Since God is in the people business, we should be too if we aspire to be more like him. Christians wear his name and somehow often fail to see the value of interacting with our fellow believers. Yes, sometimes we tend to be inactive in our faith. I once heard someone say, “Give your faith a job.” This is life-changing, faith-changing, world-changing, miracle-producing advice. When a person gets serious about improving their physical strength, they often let a coach instruct them in the work required to gain strength. They hang out with like-minded athletes or people who are trying to improve in the same areas. Why do Christians think that our faith requires nothing on our part in order to grow? We must submit our time and talents to God and let him instruct our actions. That yes, will produce the miracles we long to experience in our own lives and the lives of others.
There’s nothing that substitutes for relationship. Not with God, not with people. The moments that bring us the most laughter seldom happen when we are alone. The same is true for moments that deeply move our soul. They often happen when we are in community with God’s people.
Churches are incubators. They grow us together as God’s people. They prepare us to face a world where God told us we would not fit in. They direct our focus to look up rather than around us at the people who will always disappoint, because they are also, just like us, sinners. Churches are not defined by walls. They are defined by believers who make up a body. A holy body designed to care for its members as though pain to one caused pain to all.
The first-century Greek word translated “church” can also be translated accurately as “community.” Jesus promised to build his church. He invested himself in this endeavor. Every action Jesus took, came as he followed his father’s instruction. Jesus invited us to this work with him at his father’s direction. When someone distributes invitations to something, it’s because they have a plan. They want you share in their celebration or their work or experience but in each case, they have a design. Being invited to share in God’s design is exciting, humbling, and rewarding. It reminds me that he truly cares about directing me toward his very best.
If you are a discouraged church worker, take heart! Your faithful Yes matters. Remember, God is trustworthy. He’s faithful and he loves you oh so much.
Bio: Joni Topper radiates the glory of God by sharing everyday moments in a compelling storyteller fashion. She’s a mom to three, grandmother to five, author, musician, and speaker. Her favorite description of herself is, “One who desires to look like Jesus.”
As a singer/songwriter Joni’s joy and passion for “being” the church permeates her work. Married to Ernest for almost forty-three years, they’ve served together in the same small church for twenty-nine of them, with Ernest as the pastor and Joni as worship leader.
Joni has contributed stories to five collaborative books and her own debut book, The Power of a Well-Placed Yes: God’s Abundant Faithfulness in a Small Church launched in March 2024. Her music can be found on most music platforms. Amazon link to book: https://a.co/d/ifemb4M
Check out her website. www.morningloryministry.com