Is Coming to Church Like Assembling Furniture?

It’s always an adventure when we get IKEA furniture. There’s something terrifying about opening the box wherein our new furniture lies, only to find millions of seemingly random pieces falling out. I want to sit on our Stüpgørn, but all it looks like at first is a bunch of shiny particle board and random screws. It can be a bit intimidating. Good thing there’s a piece of paper with instructions on it.

Coming to church shouldn’t be as intimidating as putting together a piece of IKEA furniture, but sometimes it can feel that way. You walk in the doors to a lot of faces you don’t know, and look in the bulletin to a myriad of programs to connect with. Where do you start? How do you get connected?

That’s why we call our membership class “First Step.” It’s your “instructions” to connecting and being a part of Chapel Hill. More to the point, we want it to be your starting place to discovering your own gifts and callings. Sure, you’ll learn about Chapel Hill and what our vision is, but I hope you’ll learn about yourself too.

Recently I had the privilege to do some training with the elder and deacon nominees soon to come before the congregation to be voted on. As I was teaching them, the thought occurred to me that the folks who were coming into our next wave of leadership had all, at some point, been through our membership class. Some had come through in the last few years. Some had become members years ago. But none of them would now be considering a calling as elders or deacons without having started as members.

I don’t know what your journey at Chapel Hill could look like. Maybe you could end up being called to a leadership position as an elder or deacon. Or maybe you serve in the choir, get trained as a LifeGroup leader, volunteer in the nursery, or some other way of leading and serving. But I do know how you can start that journey. If you’re on the fence, I hope you’ll consider coming to our next class, January 31st after church. See you there!