Aspen Hill Christian Church

Doors …

“There are twelve entrances to the city of Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 48:30)

Have you ever thought about all those different entrances to God’s holy city? Pilgrims, visitors, armies, people from all over the world came into Jerusalem through twelve different gates. Each of the four walls of Jerusalem measured 2,530 yards and each wall had three gates. Each gate had its own name. The length of the wall on all four sides of the city was 10,080 yards long. The name of the city during that time was “The-Lord-Is-Here”

We have a “different doors” strategy for growing the church. While we have nine different doors to the church in a literal sense we have twelve doors in a spiritual sense. People come into the church through different “doors”. Some people come to us through the door of music. They love to sing, they join the choir or they just sit back and enjoy the music of the church. Other people come through the door of the softball team. They aren’t as interested in music but they sure enjoy sports and they come and take part in a fun and vibrant athletic program. Others come through the door of service or the door of study or the door of fellowship. The one door we all connect through is the sanctuary door. Sooner or later, almost always sooner we connect through the door of worship.

It is important that we keep the doors open, that we welcome people through whatever door they find most relevant and interesting for them. The door that matters the most is the door that a particular person or family is most interested in. Every church has different doors into the church and it’s important that we keep them all open.

Irrespective of which door we invite people through and which door they ultimately choose to enter the most important thing to remember is that it is our privilege and responsibility, not to mention our joy to invite people into the church. We have all experienced acceptance, love, joy, faith, fellowship and much more in our church and why wouldn’t we want to invite people in? Invite them through the door that works best for them.

I’m afraid too many Christians aren’t taking this responsibility seriously anymore. We’ve gotten used to just sitting back and enjoying the good life for ourselves. We are too often content with being spectators rather than participants in the game of life and this even plays out in our church.

For all the right reasons, and with all the right spirit and through the right door please bring your friends, your family and your neighbors and even a stranger or two to the joy of faith in Jesus Christ and in particular, life in the Aspen Hill Christian Church.