How Is the Church Doing at Caring for One Another?

Weakness Is Strength

How are we as the church doing at caring for one another? Who am I to give an answer to that significant question? I’m familiar with my own church and some others. I’ve been given the opportunity to travel, so I do have some sense of churches in other areas as well. Here’s what I've found. Leaders in churches are recognizing that they want to offer weakness to their people, rather than strength.

I hear more and more pastors asking questions to themselves, How do I present my own needs to the congregation in a way that is appropriate for them? That’s a great question, and the answers are hard, and the answers are going to be dependent on the person and the kinds of people in the church.

There are people dotted through every single church who love Jesus and love other people in ways that aren’t seen by everybody.

I hear pastors ask How can I demonstrate weakness? How can I ask be asking for prayer for my own heart from the congregation?

A Motley Crew

I've found that churches are not quite sure what it would look like to develop a coordinated, strategic way of equipping the church to care for each other as outlined in Ephesians 4. They see bits and pieces of it, but not some sort of coherent way of discipling their people.

Caring for One Another

Edward T. Welch

Edward T. Welch guides small groups through 8 lessons aimed at helping ordinary Christians create a community where people bear one another’s burdens and care for each other in times of trouble.

I've found that where women seem to speak about matters of the soul a little bit more easily with one another, men still don’t talk about the issues in their lives as much. Men do when they’re found out and caught in sins. But, short of that, men are still not doing very well at deepening relationships with each other and practicing that kind of openness, humility, and neediness.

And, I've found that there are people dotted through every single church who love Jesus and love other people in ways that aren’t seen by everybody, but in ways that are just plain beautiful. It happens all the time, in every church.

So, we’re a motley group. We’re doing poorly in some areas, and we’re doing well in others, as you'd expect.

Edward T. Welch (PhD, University of Utah) is a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. He has been counseling for more than 35 years and has written extensively on the topics of depression, fear, and addictions. His books include When People Are Big and God Is Small, Crossroads: A Step-by-Step Guide Away From Addiction, Running Scared: Fear, Worry and the God of Rest, Shame Interrupted, and Side by Side. He blogs regularly at CCEF.org.

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