Bound in Love

Sometimes I think that people in the church over emphasis evangelism and outreach. I'm not against them, and the church should not neglect her duty in them. I just think that people forget their duty to edify and uplift one another. It seems that the modern thought of evangelism and outreach is to get people in the church and then move on to the next. This has been one of the down falls in the church today. Either people are to busy with their own lives or they are to busy trying to bring others in. We need to focus on building up the church from the inside. We must work with one another in this and not have an attitude of "let someone else do it." The duty falls on all of us to encourage one another in love. We are called to be one body, that means we must work together to keep it strong. We are not called to be separate little individuals, coming only for our own growth. Nor are we the just to fill space. The church does not have a space for rent sign on the door. One must work towards a spiritual growth and bonds in unity. If we don't do this we fail each other. Also our efforts in out reach and evangelism are done in vain. For how can we expect people to keep people in the church if we don't show each other the love of Christ that is expressed in the gospel? On the same note, how can we expect people to bring people into an environment that is like that. In order to be effective in outreach and evangelism we must strengthen our bonds in the church. We must be examples of Christ's love to all people everywhere. Let us look to the one who first loved us for guidance and help, that His love would shine through us, in such areas.