Faith is a Team Sport – Thyme4Faith

Can faith be a solitary experience or is Faith a Team Sport?

Faith is a Team Sport

It’s that time of the year again. The state fair has come and gone, the kids are back at school and everyone is excited about the kick-off of football season. Fall also triggers the “come back to church” campaigns for churches across the country. In fact, Hosanna! (my faith home) has their Fall Kick-off this weekend. As it turns out, football and faith communities have something in common. They both leverage the importance of being part of a team (aka community) to function properly. But why is community an important part of faith? Can’t faith just be a solitary experience?

Made for Community

Bottom line – you don’t have to go to church – you get to go to church! We were inherently created to live in a connected relationship with God and in a community of believers. There is nothing that compares to the experience of worshiping God in a sea of fellow believers. Did you know that worship is actually for our benefit more than it is for God’s? By turning our eyes and voices to God, our normally self-centered mindset is redirected outward. We reconnect with the one who created us, defeated death to save us and shares His very Spirit to sustain us. Through this communion with God we are granted peace, filled with hope and strengthened for all the challenges we face in life.

UpLevel Your Faith

Wherever you’re at in your faith journey, even if you haven’t begun, God loves you just as you are. That said, He also loves you too much to leave you there. Why not kick off your own next step in getting closer to God?  Take stock of your current level of faith and challenge yourself to take it to the next level. 

• No awareness or interest in faith
• Aware and willing to agree there is a God
• Pray at times when things get tough for you or others
• Attend church on holidays (because it looks good/seems like the right thing/keeps the peace etc..)
• Spend some time reading the bible or other faith-based material (like a daily devotional) 
• Attend church regularly  
• Leverage classes provided by your church to dive deeper into your faith
• Join a Small Group/House Group/Bible Study and share your life with a personal faith community
• Serve in a ministry that multiplies the hope & heartbeat of Jesus in the larger community

In a nutshell, we are better together with God at the center!