What the Church can Learn from Bikers

I was working with a friend of mine this past week. He's a motorcycle rider and he was talking about an event this weekend that is happening in Baldwin, MI. It's called the Blessing of the Bikes. I don't know too much about bikers or biker culture, and since I didn't know what this blessing was I asked. He told me it was a time with other bikers to meet them, get to know each other, and spend time together. It wasn't a potluck, it wasn't a men's retreat or a women's retreat, it wasn't fellowship night, and it wasn't small group. It was simply a time to meet each other for a single reason...because they all have something in common.

It sounded really cool to me and almost made me wish I had a bike so I could go with them. That made me stop and think. I thought about the church and the many reasons we get together. We get together on Sunday for church. We get together once every week or two for our small groups. We get together once a month or year for a retreat. But rarely do we get together just to get to know each other. Why is that? I'm not sure.

To be fair I've been to a few churches where the people genuinely want to know each other and do get together just to get to know each other. But the majority of people I know who go to church only see a few of the other members of the church regularly and the rest only on Sunday. We as the Church are supposed to be a unified body, the Body of Christ, but we rarely have anything to do with each other outside of church.

So, when I heard about these bikers who want to see each other and get to know each other simply because they share that one thing in common, I wondered why believers aren't the same...

I'll be honest. I fall short on this too. There are plenty of people who believe in Jesus just like me, but I have absolutely no desire to get to know them. It is a failing, and I'm realizing it needs to change in me. That being said, what about the rest of us? What about the many Christians who don't want to get to know others simply because they share one thing in common, a Love for Jesus?

Well, this is one of those posts where I don't have an answer. I know it's not more potlucks or more small groups. Neither can make a person invest in others' lives. I know it's not carrying on the same as always, because we as the Body of Christ need to be a body and not disparate members. I know what it doesn't look like, and I know that when I heard about the Blessing of the Bikes something seemed to spark in the back of my mind. But I don't know what it does look like. I've had words like community and fellowship thrown at me for years, but what that actually means is often not so easily found or stated.

So I'm left wondering what to do. That's usually a good place to turn to God. He's got some pretty good answers. His Word is full of how the Body needs to work. I know we as the Body fail in many places and am so thankful for God's grace when we do, but I want to know how I am to live in such a way that I am part of the Body and am welcoming, encouraging, and lifting up others as part of the Body.

Since God brought this across my radar, I've been wondering what should I do: what does He want me to do. I don't have an answer yet. What I do have is a prayer and an idea. The prayer is that God would unify His church. That He would bring the many disparate members we've become into a cohesive whole based on one thing in common: Him. And my idea is one that's still being thought out. What about a Blessing of the Churches. A time where the churches in an area can meet together for a weekend and meet each other, get to know each other, and maybe spend time together. It is just an idea, and a new one at that. But if you could be praying for me and for that idea I'd really appreciate it. Who knows what God has planned yet. It could be that, or it could be something else entirely. But, whatever it is, I'm excited to see how God uses His Church!


One Body, and I'm a Struggling Praying Member,
Joshua