Kathleen Blackey: How A Ladies Tea Can Help Us Learn To Be A Church Family All Over Again

Just a few weekends ago the church I serve hosted a Ladies Tea. To my knowledge we have never had one before. Honestly, I had never been to one before. We did not have an agenda. We had time to fellowship. It was mostly an excuse to gather together. Over the past two years we haven’t done that enough. We wanted to keep those most vulnerable in our community healthy, so we loved our neighbors by limiting our gathering. But we missed it so much. 

Now we are learning how to be a church family all over again. It starts slowly, like with a Ladies Tea, but steadily we can grow together into something beautiful for Jesus. It will most likely look different from what we had before, but we can be a light for Jesus nonetheless.

I’ve spoken with other Christians who have shared similar experiences of trying to figure out how to be a church after all that has happened these past two years. I hear nervous voices as we enter unfamiliar territory; however, it’s a great opportunity to reflect and get creative in how we share the love of Jesus in our communities.

Here are three ways that we can move forward in being the church in our communities:

1. Grieve the losses of these past two years. Losses not only include people, but also ways that we’ve always been the church. In order to let go of the things that we did and move forward, we can’t ignore what has happened.
2. Spend time with one another. Campfires, tag sales, hikes, crafting are all example of reasons to get together. Some may feel more comfortable than others in how we gather, but finding ways to be together is the first step in carrying out the great commission.
3. Brainstorm new ways our churches can connect with our communities and then try them! Has someone in your church always wanted to host potluck dinners in your fellowship hall? Give them the encouragement and the resources to do it. The dinner might be a great success, or you might decide that you’d like to change a few things before doing it again. Or the person might decide that he doesn’t want to try it again. That’s all okay. The more that we encourage everyone in the church to get creative, the more we’ll get excited to try new ways to love our communities!

Want more resources to get a jump start on creativity in your church? Our friends at Fresh Expressions just had their Gathering, and they’ve collected their best stuff, which can be purchased here.