BELONGING TO A LOCAL CHURCH
TOPIC: LOCAL CHURCH One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always. –A.W. Tozer In all the different places I grew up—from trailer parks to apartment divisions to little yellow houses—the word that wouldn’t describe any of them is “peaceful.” But that’s pretty common where abuse, addiction and financial scarcity cast their shadows. To me, “home” wasn’t a place of safety or refuge but a source of secrecy, seclusion and shame. Not to say that I have zero happy memories from that time: I grew up in the country and spent my childhood outside, picking wild blackberries, jumping on hay bales and playing in the woods. I read a lot. I had friends. But the good parts of childhood often seemed like tealights placed in a storm cellar, small flames swallowed by the dark. I looked forward to leaving my town (and secretly, my home) and going to colle
