Judging from your feedback, the gracEmail for May 18, 2008 titled “Knowing One Another” touched a live nerve. Following are a few responses (some edited for space or form); we will share others from time to time. Thanks to all who wrote!
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“People everywhere are longing to be known. The desperation of alcohol addiction has led to transforming life-sharing help through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings since 1935. Yet many churches are still having arms-length meetings with no openings to give anyone Jesus’ love.” — Wayne (Wayne7282@msn.com)
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“All of us have friendships like yours and Don’s. It’s impossible to maintain deep friendships with a lot of people and if you know as many as I do, you understand. Our friendships deepen when times get hard or when we have children growing up together, or when we work on projects together.” — Marge (othermother6@juno.com)
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“You said it yourself — you were convicted. It is the Holy Spirit doing the convicting for it is his job. What should not happen is for us to make some sort of effort to help put other people with their Don’s. That isn’t our job — unless the Holy Spirit convicts us to do so. So, it takes an inner hearing, an inner sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s unctions within us.” — George (gjallen1973@sbcglobal.net)
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“Over the years my wife and I have invited two couples that we did not know well to our home for dinner. Many of those times we included a widow friend to ‘help host.’ These dinners with the wonderful conversations have been the highlight of our time here.” — Royce (royceogle@gmail.com)
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“We can begin by getting rid of our pews so we can look at each other’s faces and not the backs of heads. Next we begin real dialogue in a mutual ministry, with our women being a part of the time we spend together. We then add small groups until all are meeting together on a rotating basis. Finally we sell the building and all it involves. You and I know this is never going to happen but I do like to think about it.” — Charles (Cbowers32@aol.com)
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“I agree that many church relationships are superficial. It is a precious thing to find a church with a culture of transparency. It takes intentional efforts like a food-and-fellowship network, or small home groups for sharing, prayer and Bible study. Leaders also need to encourage honesty and openness by being real themselves. At deeper levels we increase our suffering by our attempts to cover our suffering.” — Brown (bekinn@provide.net)