“I thank my God every time I remember you…”

Philippians 1:3

The Apostle Paul opens his letter to the church at Philippi with a bold statement: I thank my God every time I remember you. Now, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, “Really, Paul? EVERY time?”

I don’t know about you, but I’m hard pressed to think of any person (maybe with the exception of my wife) for whom I am thankful EVERY time I remember them. 

But then we may think, “Oh, but wait a minute. Paul is writing this letter to a local church, not an individual.” Well, that makes more sense! (Please try to imagine the sarcasm with that last statement.) Because I’m thinking, “Really, Paul? EVERY time? You are thankful EVERY time you remember a local church?”

It’s okay for us to admit it. Sometimes local churches are memorable for the wrong reasons. Some might even go so far as to say, “I thank my God every time I forget you.” And, in fact, it would seem that many in our society have forgotten the church. And for a great number of them, it has to do with negative experiences…some with traumatic experiences. Google “Southern Baptist Convention sexual abuse” for more information.

Others have forgotten the church for much less serious reasons. For some, there is no room for the church with everything else going on in their lives. Their lives are too busy for church involvement. For others, they do not feel as if they fit in or do not feel much love in the church. The Washington Post had a fascinating and sobering article on this topic from September of last year:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/09/15/christianity-church-attendance-decline

So what does this mean for the local church? If you read further into Philippians, you will see that the church at Phillipi had its own issues. No church is without flaws. And there is no easy fix as to how to get people involved in the local church again. However, Paul may have given the church one solution in Philippians 1: 9-10 as he wrote the following:

“And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters…”

So what really matters to the local church? What really matters? 

I am going to make a bold statement of my own. If anything matters more to the local church than making sure that others fit in or that others feel loved, the local church is misguided. Jesus had room for everyone. Period. Do we?