Practical Ways You Can Curb the Great Church Exodus, with Jen Oshman

As church attendance declines around the globe, women are longing for a place to belong. Will you extend an invitation to them and welcome them into your local church? In this episode, guest Jen Oshman and the Grounded hosts will inspire you to invite women back to church, back to community, and back to Jesus. 

Connect with Jen

Instagram: @jenoshman

Twitter: @jenoshman

Website: https://www.jenoshman.com/

Episode Notes

• Welcome: Making Space for Everyone book by Jen Oshman: https://www.thegoodbook.com/welcome-book
• Love Your Church book series: https://www.thegoodbook.com/series/love-your-church-series/
• “Back to Church” podcast episode: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/podcast/weekend/back-to-church/
• “Instructions of a Father” podcast series: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/podcast/revive-our-hearts/season/the-instruction-of-a-father/

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Dannah Gresh: Hey there, you know one thing researchers can agree on is that church attendance in developing countries is decreasing, not increasing. I'm wondering, Do you feel that in your community? Well, today, we're inviting you and equipping you to help change that I'm Dannah Gresh, and this is Grounded.

Portia Collins: I'm Portia Collins. Whether this is your first time or your 100th time watching Grounded, we hope that you showed up for two things, nd you already know we are happy to give them to you: hope and perspective. 

So, let's talk about what's happening in church communities across the globe.

Dannah: For sure, girl. You know, I'm concerned about it. It's not great. We're not seeing a healthy pulse of the Body of Christ. You know I'm a lover of social data. And it's not because I like to keep my fingers on the pulse of what's happening in culture. But it's kind of a way for me to diagnose areas where God's people need to ask the Lord to help us better accomplish the Great Commission—and that mission is making disciples of Jesus all across the world. 

Portia: Yeah, I'm tracking. 

Dannah: So, here's one data point that I read this weekend that really concerns me. This is new data this month, the month of June 2023. And it says, “After the pandemic, 27% of church goers are still not back in the pews. They are watching church digitally online.” 

And here's the really big concern about that: 51% of them are doing it alone. 

And here's what I want to say: that's not experiencing church. So, the way God designed us is life on life, eye to eye, heart at heart. This is a wakeup call for you if you fall in that group, but also more attention to the program, we want it to be a wakeup call for you to create a welcoming space for those people to come back. 

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, it hurts to hear that but it's not surprising. 

Dannah: Yeah. 

Portia: I say that the pandemic was actually, we know God's design was in that. I feel like He was really like saying, “Hey, are you with Me, or are you not?”

And for me, I have been really focusing in on talking to my friends and people that I know in my sphere of influence and telling them, “Do you realize that God doesn't call us to be believers in isolation. He calls us to do that in community.” 

You may think this is okay, but it is not okay. And ultimately, you're setting yourself up, because not only does the Spirit work in us individually, but the Spirit also works in us corporately, and you miss out on that blessing when we say, “Hey, I'm just gonna do my own thing.”

Dannah: Yeah, what we're saying is, “We need you. We miss you. Come back.” This is your invitation. 

You are sitting in the pews and someone who's missing, how are we making them feel welcome to come back? Portia, tell us who is going to help us with that today.

Portia: Jen Oshman is waiting in the digital wings. She is a missionary. She's the wife of a church planter. She has been all across the globe, and she's going to help us think how to be on that moment in service when we turn and we shake hands and do all the things often awkwardly.

She will help us to get practical about how we can make others feel welcome in the body of Christ.

Dannah: That's right. And Erin's gonna turn the tables on us and reveal why on Sundays we don't want to go to church. We all have them. Let's be honest. She's gonna take us to God's Word to show us why those are the days we may most need to be there. 

15:03 - Good News (with Erin)

The first errand here is to give us some good news. Good morning, my friend.

Erin Davis: Good morning. I was nodding furiously as we were talking about that, because actually I would have thought it was a little bit higher than 27%. But if it's higher than 0%, we have got something to talk about here.

Dannah: That’s right. 

Erin: But first, can I give you some good news? 

Dannah: Please do. 

Erin: We love that Grounded is a global audience. We've already said that around the world several times this morning. And so, we try to be very careful not to only look through the headlines and talk about through our American lens. All of our hosts are Americans. And church decline is not just an American problem. 

In fact, Europe has been experiencing a sharp decline in church attendance for decades. I've heard many people talk about these beautiful, empty churches across Europe. “But God,” are two of my favorite words. And here's another favorite word, “revival.” Here's the headline you probably haven't seen in your social media feed this morning, if you woke up and tried to get your news that way. The headline is, “This Christian student movement leads to evangelism in cities across the U.K.”

Here’s how it's happening. A small group of students . . . Doesn't revival seem to start so often with students? I just love that. But a small group of students have been holding prayer and worship events for the past eight months. And is, as is so often the case, the students who have been attending those worship nights, as their hearts have been softened, as they've thought about the person of Jesus and all that He's done for them is an outflow of that. They have a fresh longing to see the lost come to Jesus. That is part of the beauty of revival. Revival starts with God's people, but it never ends there. 

As our hearts are revived, we want to see other people experience new life in Him. 

So what started as a small group of students have moved from those church services to the streets, one student said, “Our dream was that in the context of worship, and seeking the presence of God, students will be ignited with a passion to share the gospel with their friends at the university.” 

But get this: This is the good news behind the good news. When visiting the locations for these events, the team discovered local prayer warriors. They are not students but older folks who had seen God's Spirit move before and long to see it move again. 

So local prayer warriors have been praying for such nights to happen for more than 20 years. The people of God in that part of the world where churches that are declining are praying. They keep praying, and they keep praying, and they keep praying. They ask God to send revival and then a group of students, many of whom were not even alive when these prayer warriors started praying, started to see it happen with their own eyes. 

Because where God's people are praying and worshiping and sharing their faith, the kingdom grows. Glimmers of that are happening in the U.K. And that is something that surprises a lot of social researchers around the world. We think that's really good, hope-filled, encouraging news. So, I'll hand it over to you,

Dannah: Amen. That got me wanting to get out into the fray. 

Erin: Me, too!

Dannah: I love it. I love the Bible story. Lord, bring it. Well, as you said, it's time to get Grounded with God's people. Jen Oshman is our guest today. God took them out of a mission field in Japan to care for an aging parent with dementia. I love that they were faithful to that call. 

Well, the question could have been on their hearts was God still working? You bet He was. He called them to plant an Acts 29 church in Colorado. Dan is the author of a new book titled Welcome: Loving Your Church by Making Space for Everyone. And Jen, I would like to say welcome to the Grounded.

18:36 - Grounded with God's People (Jen Oshman)

Jen Oshman: Thank you so much for having me. It's so sweet to be with you ladies this morning.

Dannah: We are thrilled. Now, one of the first questions that I had, as I was looking over your stuff is, how's your life experience as a missionary and church planter impacted your perspective on how the Church welcomes people?

Jen: I do think it has had massive shaping influence in my life. My husband and I are about to celebrate 25 years of marriage, and we have spent 15 years of that overseas. 

So, we were in Japan; we were also in the Czech Republic in Central Europe. And those are two of the world's most atheist nations. As you mentioned, the Lord called us home to care for my father. And so, we found ourselves back in our home state of Colorado. But we came here after 15 years of being in very seriously dark locations and seeing the Lord at work. Scripture tells us Jesus will build His Church, and it's true. We saw that happen in two very dark locations. 

I love that good news story. Full believers who are praying people were inviting others in. It definitely forces me to fight against cynicism and to always have that resurrection hope of Jesus. 

Dannah: That’s so cool. Well, as you heard, the stats prove that there's a crisis. If we see those numbers dwindling, and most of us feel it and are most concerned about it. I talk about it at almost any little gathering—a girlfriend over coffee, over lunch. What keeps us from being engaging?

Jen: I think there are so many answers to that question. I'll start with the heavier answer. The only sin that keeps us ensnared; I think we feel we are aware more than anybody else in our lives. So that prevents us from feeling like we are worthy of extending an invitation. 

And then I think it goes all the way to maybe a more lighthearted sort of obvious answer that it's awkward in an increasingly post-Christian context. 

Dannah: Yeah, right. 

Jen: It's just embarrassing out in the world to say, “Hey, I believe in Jesus, and I want you to meet Him too.” So, I think we're just battling everything from heavier to the more obvious, and it just keeps us paralyzed. But you know what else? It keeps us from experiencing great joy. I feel convicted even as I say that for myself. We are missing out on one of the greatest joys by not welcoming others in. 

Dannah: Well, really interesting point, when you say someone might be embarrassed, it might be awkward for us to invite people to church. I have to say, my pastor is continuing ahead. You don't go to church, you are the Church. But for the sake of practicality, of people aren't coming to the church, are we compelled in a culture that we live in right now in some ways to take ourselves to them? If so, how do we do that?

Jen: I think that is exactly right. I mean, it's obvious. Statistics bear this out. The best way to invite somebody into church is to personally send that personal invitation. But that can't come out of a vacuum, right? You have to already have a relationship if you're going to invite somebody to church. 

So, I think the temptation in our isolated social media-focused, self-sufficient age that we live in, where we go into our homes and sort of take care of ourselves rather than more communal or village life than we may have had in history; I think this temptation is to sort of stay isolated from our labors and to not really go into the lives of our coworkers, or that our kids’ sports teams, or wherever you find yourself. It is more normal and socially acceptable to stay away from other people. 

So, I think that the believer is called to be an ambassador for Christ. Jesus went toward the other; He went toward the outsider better than anyone ever in history. And so, in His name we want to go there and do likewise. We want to overcome that awkwardness, ask the Lord to help us go toward others, build that relationship, build that deep friendship, be there in their time of need, and then give an invitation to churches because you already have a relationship with them.

Dannah: Yeah. I love that you love Jesus, talking about Him. How do you take it to the Scriptures? Take us through a passage where you see Him modeling how to invite people into the relationship with Him. He wasn't inviting them to a Sunday service, obviously, they weren't having them. So what can we learn from His life?

Jen: I absolutely love to point myself and others to Philippians chapter two. I will just read you two quick verses, because I think they're so instructive to us, starting in verse 7. It says that Jesus, 

. . . emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.”

In that Scripture Paul is teaching us to be humble, like Jesus. He says that Jesus is fully God. And rather than maintaining that glory in heaven, He willingly emptied Himself. So, you just think of that divide that Jesus Christ, leaving heaven coming to earth, taking on flesh, and then being obedient, even death on the cross, that He might make a sacrifice for our sins that we would have had to make. 

And so, when you think about what the Lord has done for you and me, and the way that we treated Him, and the way that He still pursued us and rescued us, not because there was anything good within us, but because He is all good. When I soak in that, that is really what motivates me that you just cross the street or go across the classroom or across the soccer field. How short is that divide compared to the divide that my Lord crossed for me. 

So, my encouragement and reminder to myself and everybody listening is to be motivated by what Jesus has done for us. Let us ask the spirit to propel us to go therefore and do likewise.

Dannah: Propel is a really interesting word. I think about the story where Jesus goes to meet a woman, a sinful woman, at a water well. And then the Scriptures tell us that He must need to go through Samaria or He had to go through Samaria. 

But the fact is, He didn't. There were faster, easier ways. Most faithful Jews did not go through Samaria. But He was, as the word you used, propelled, compelled to go to her. He didn't wait and say, “Listen, she's gonna have to come to me.” We have to follow that example that He had to go to the places, the empty wells of thirst, that people are sitting at. They're sitting there in shame. We have to bust through that wall of shame in the name of Jesus.

Jen: Yes, I mean, we are called. I think that we so quickly forget that we have been commanded to go. We do get comfortable and our spaces are so full and busy. They're usually very full and very busy with good things. But the Great Commission is not a great suggestion. The Lord says you must go. 

Dannah: We must go. 

Jen: So, what can we maybe give up to have the space to go through some area instead of going into our garage and closing the door before we make a new friend?

Dannah: Maybe some of that 27% who haven’t come back to the church is because they've been deeply wounded and have not felt welcomed. What should we do if she finds herself in an unwelcoming church environment and she's feeling hurt there?

Jen: There are so many caveats to that answer. It's hard to know where to begin. 

Dannah: Right.

Jen: Of course, I'm with you. And what you said in the beginning is, I believe that the local church is God's means for our protection and for our growth and for our flourishing, so I will always champion the local church and want to think of the best of her. 

I know it's true that wounds happen, spiritual abuse happens. This is a reality on this side of heaven, that those things will happen. 

And so, without knowing the context of each woman, that is the specific question. I often refer back to three things: we need the Word of God, we need the people of that, and we need the Spirit of God. 

Standing on those three things, may this woman search the Scriptures for answers, for comfort, for healing, for encouragement. May she pray, may the Spirit be her comfort and her counselor and her teacher. May she speak to the people of God now things are going well in her local church. Are there people in her local church that she could go to, friends specifically in that setting that she could go to first and foremost?

But if there's not in her local church, could she go to other believers in her community and seek their encouragement and wisdom as well and not taking the Word and taking the spirit and taking the people that had been with us standing on those three pillars. May she find a place to worship in a community and a family to belong to.

Dannah: Amen, we’re praying that for everyone listening today that you will find a place where you feel like you belong. A lot of times people belong before they believe.

Jen: I think that is really true. 

Dannah: They have belonging in a community. When they start to feel welcomed, like they belong here, that is one of the first steps in believing. We’ve gotta go to them where they are Gentiles. 

Where can we get a copy of new book Welcome: Loving Your Church by Making Space for Everyone? 

Jen: Welcome is sold wherever books are sold. So definitely Amazon or anywhere online as well. It is published by TheGood Book Company. You can always go to their website as well.

Dannah: Awesome. Thanks for being with us today, Jen. 

Jen: Thank you so much. 

Dannah: You know, Welcome is a book that’s part of a series of books called Love Your Church. We want you to know about all those books, so we're gonna drop a link for you. Erin, get us grounded in God's Word.

30:00 - Grounded in God's Word (with Erin)

Erin: I can't wait to. We're gonna be in 1 Peter 5. While you're turning there, I wanted to show you a picture which is going to be hard to do. You'll see Dannah’s face down in the bottom because we're on a channel, but you see this huddle of women. This happened just a couple of weeks ago; that's been the black dress. 

And the story goes like this, somebody from my church posted on Facebook one year, “Hey, if you don't have somewhere to celebrate Christmas Eve services, come to our church.” The woman in the middle of that circle you couldn't see. I won't tell you her name, because this is her story. But she thought, I don't have anywhere to go to church on Christmas Eve, that'd be a good thing to do with my family. 

The Lord was already working in her heart in a lot of different ways. But she showed up to my church on Christmas Eve. We have this beautiful candlelit service. Then she came the Sunday after that. And then she came the Sunday after that. And then she came the Sunday after that. And now she's in a Bible study that I lead weekly. It all started with somebody putting a message on Facebook. 

So maybe this isn't as hard as we sometimes make it out to be. By the way, we were in the river because that woman was getting baptized, because she made a decision to follow Christ. The Lord used somebody just making a Facebook post essentially saying, “You're welcome to gather with us.” 

All right, time to get us Grounded in God's Word. That was just an aside because I love that photo, and I love that story. It makes me want to extend the hand of welcome more freely than I already have. 

Several years ago I was doing research for a writing project when I met a woman whose story has stuck with me all these years. We'll call her “Dawn.” As a young woman, Dawn heard the gospel, and she understood it. God helped her understand it. She understood her need to surrender her life to Jesus. And that was real. An outflow that God grew in Dawn was a deep love for the church. She quickly became more than just a church attender. Church became the place where she served, where she learned how to study her Bible, where her friends felt more like family. That was real. But then through a series of sinful decisions that started rather innocuously . . . But as sin does, they built on each other. Dawn found herself surprised as anybody in a sinful, sexual, same-sex relationship. 

Satan started to use shame like a megaphone. Because you know what? He's real too. And the message was clear. You can never tell anyone at your church what you've done. They wouldn't understand. 

On some level Dawn knew better, so she didn't stop attending church altogether. But she quietly resigned from all of her ministry positions. She moved herself to the back row of the church. She started sliding in late and slipping out early, all the while she could not seem to break free from her sin on her own.

Here's the real tragedy, I think. Dawn stayed on the back pew of her church wrapped in loneliness wrapped in chains and deep in a sinful relationship that she desperately wanted to be free of, for eight years—eight years of isolation, eight years of keeping people at arm's length, eight years of listening to the enemy's lie, that being alone was the only way for her to deal with her sin. 

So, as we're talking about welcoming people into our churches, as we're talking about the fact that we can have a say in this mass exodus of people from church, we should ask ourselves this question, why do we want people to go to church anyway? I mean, I don't know about you. But my church stopped taking attendance a long time ago. We no longer post the number of attendees like we maybe once did. And so, it doesn't really matter if we're fifty less than we were the week before. We don't even know it. 

So why do we want people to come to church? And the question behind the question is what's really at stake when they don't? Why does it matter if you go to church next week or if I do? Why does it matter if we invite our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers to church? Why? 

Well, people tend to turn to Hebrews or Acts to answer that question, and those are good places to turn. They give us a biblical design for God's people. And those are good and inspired verses. But here's the one that keeps me going to church and the one that makes me willing to invite others to church. It's 1 Peter chapter 5:8, “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.”

Then it goes on to say, “Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 

Be sober-minded, that's an action step. Be watchful, another action step. Why? Because you have an adversary. We were just talking before we went live on this episode about how much he hates us and how much, frankly, we hate him. 

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. I'm fond of saying that not a word is wasted in God's Word. So why did the author of this passage use a lion to describe Satan? 

Well, I believe it's because of the way that they hunt. Lions are really unique in their strategy for taking down other game to eat. Unlike other predators, they do not look for signs of weakness. They're not necessarily interested in who's sick. Their strategy is this simple. Who can the lions who hunt in a pack, who can the lions separate from the rest of their own herd? 

In that context, it's fitting to consider our adversary the devil like a roaring lion. Because sure, he preys on the weak and sure he preys on the sick, but really, his strategy is just to see which one of us he can separate from the pack. This is the same strategy: it's no big deal, skip church. It's no big deal to go to Bible study only when it's convenient. But newsflash, it's almost never convenient. 

And then when we sin, Satan suddenly changes his tune. He makes a very big deal out of that, and tells us that God's people would just never understand. What he seems to be forgetting is the gospel. And the gospel is what binds the people of God together. It is this: that we are all sinners, every single one of us, from the oldest to the youngest, from the people on the platform to the people in the pew. We're all sinners, and that's why we need Jesus so much. 

Eventually, Dawn joined Celebrate Recovery, a program to help God's people live free. And as part of that process, she adopted a policy of no more secrets. That led to no more shame, and that led to no more loneliness. Here's what Dawn said, 

It took almost an entire year to get through the program. [She's talking about Celebrate Recovery.] But I walked away with freedom, joy, and a firm decision that I would not be silent any longer, and I would never be lonely like that again. 

I love that story. I don't love that Dawn got ensnared. I don't love that she stayed ensnared for eight years. But what I love is that she got so tired of the chase, so tired of her enemy prowling around like a roaring lion and effectively separating her from the pack that she turned around. And in God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, she turned around and looked that old devil in the eye, and she just refused to be hunted anymore. 

The church was not created by God to be a building; you know that. The church was not created by God to be one more to do on your endless to-do list. No, don't think of it like that, otherwise, you're not going to go. It's not even just like a good thing to do with your family. It is all of those things. 

But the church was created to be a safety net against sin. In a world where Satan is constantly on the prowl. 

So that should reframe things a little bit. It should make us hurry to go to church. I hurry to go to church because I know I'm a sinner, and I need to be with the people of God. It should also stir our hearts to compassionately welcome those who are outside the church. I would say starting with those inside our own local fellowships. I can think of several who are part of that 27%. They're not there. And if you ask them about it, they say, “Well, I'm watching it online.” We’ve got to find a way to woo them back. 

Here's a pattern I've noticed in my own life. I bet it rings true for you. When I least want to go to church is when I'm already feeling down, when I'm struggling to forgive somebody.

Dannah: Bring it.

Erin: When my love for my family has grown cold. That's when I least want to go to church, but that's when I most need to go to church. 

Dannah: Preach it, Sister. 

Erin: You’ve got a warning light on, on the “dash of your car” when you wake up on Sunday morning and the last place you want to be is with the people of God. Get your shoes on and run, and don't sit on the back pew!

Listen, there's no sticker chart in heaven. Jesus isn’t another keeping track of how many Sundays you miss or how many Sundays you go.

Dannah: Portia, you better get a shoe off. 

Erin: Yeah, Portia’s gonna take that shoe off. I'm here to say: 

I went to school with a person who never missed a single day of school from kindergarten through high school. Guess what? She got a piece of paper that is probably in the garbage now. There's no perfect attendance system in heaven. That's not why we go. 

We go to church because it's a source of protection against the evil one. And we all need that. You need that. Your neighbor needs that. Your friend needs that. Your coworker needs that. Because there is an adversary, the devil, and he is not passive. He is prowling around like a roaring lion. I'll get fired up because I want to fight back against him. And the way to do that is a united front together. 

Dannah: Amen.

Erin: We all need to stand together against him. And you, Friend, can be a part of protecting someone like Dawn. The only thing more tragic than Dawn missing out on the people of God for eight years. You can be a part of protecting someone like Dawn by making them feel at home, by saying, “Hey, I love to have you at church; I saved you a seat.” It’s not if they come to church with sin in their lives. It's a matter of when they come to church with sin in their lives. And we want to extend the hand of grace. 

So maybe it's a Facebook post this week. Maybe it's a text. Maybe it's inviting that friend who has told you many times she doesn't want to come but you asked again. “Hey, would you come to Bible study with me? I would love to have you there. I'll pick you up.” What can you do to extend the hand of welcome this week to protect those you love against that prowling, roaring, angry, evil lion? That's the question. Portia, you got your shoes on? You gotta throw. 

Portia: You already know girl. I am ready to throw it. Do you hear me? 

Erin: Good. 

Portia: Because you got to be spot on. And maybe it's a situation where you are already in relationship with someone, but you need to probably show a little bit of vulnerability in terms of like, I'm here, we are here. That's like your way is to show them there is no danger in Christian community. 

There are so many people that I've been seeing lately who've been like, “Ah, I'm not doing it,” because they're so afraid of church hurt that they just have this wall up.

Erin: And that's real. We hurt each other. 

Dannah: Yes.

Erin: We're sinners. That's real.

Portia: But there's no real danger in Christian community. 

Dannah: Healthy, healthy, healthy . . .

Portia: . . . Christian community. Thank you, Dannah. I hear you girl.

Erin: I wish you went to church together. It'd be the dream.

Portia: I know!

Alright guys, I got some tools to help you stay grounded because we're definitely being grounded in this episode. I want to assume that you are listening to this as a faithful church attender. Maybe you are one of many who have gotten out of hand, at church, maybe you've been that virtual member because you've let other things take priority. Or maybe you are dealing with church hurt, and you've put up the wall, and you keep everybody at arm's length. 

Well, we have an episode of Revive Our Hearts Weekend to recommend. It's called “Back to Church”, and it's hosted by our own Dannah girl. You will also hear from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Michelle Hill, and Trent and Andrea Griffith. 

And here's something cool, you will find out which one of the Seven Dwarves Dannah would like to be like. Listen so you can find out which ones you'd like to be.

And we've also got one more bonus tool. We know that Father's Day was just yesterday: Happy Father's Day to all the poppas out there. We just aired a short series on Revive Our Hearts where Nancy shares some of the principles that she learned from her dad. It is called “Instructions of a Father.” We will drop a link to that episode in the show notes and in the chat.

Dannah: Hey, guys, I feel like I should say this. This is not an episode of Grounded that you share with someone who's not going to church. This is an episode of Grounded that you “do.” You do this episode. Let me read this comment I've been following on YouTube. Tony wrote, “Moved to a new city and new church, and it was lonely and cold. I wanted to hide and not be there. But I kept asking the Lord to make me feel welcomed.”

And this is what I want to say to you. Let's see the answer to the prayers like that. 

Listen, I want you to know that I made the best cup of coffee right before we started Grounded and have enjoyed it with all of you the last 30 minutes. It made me think a friend that for three years didn't come to church. 

So, I started meeting her every week for coffee. I was bringing the church to her. So, we met at Cafe Lo Mons. We had coffee. 

Erin: That sounds fancy.

Dannah: We talked about Jesus. Yeah. It's just cute. We talked about Jesus. I brought the church to her today. I'm happy to say she loves His Church. But it took three years in a coffee shop before she started being a part of the body of Christ. Don't share this episode, go do it. Whatever it takes.

Erin: Amen. Here's another sweet one from Diane. She said, “My friend has been inviting me, and I've had my wall up about church. This is a great message. I'm going to join her now.” 

Dannah: Go girl! 

Erin: Diane, you're the reason we're here and have makeup on this early in the day, because I wanted you to hear this. And we don't just want you to go to church for something to do. We want you to go because that's where you meet the Lord. You can go anywhere. But that's because the people of God are meant to be a safety net. So thank you.

Dannah: So great. Diane, I'm going to be praying for you.

Erin: Can we pray for her right now?

Dannah: Yeah, let's do it. Who's gonna do it? 

Erin: You do it. 

Dannah: Jesus, we just celebrate this. We got to be what You used. But would You just allow Diane to have a desire to be in church? 

Lord, we do need the Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God. But if it doesn't start with a Spirit of God, the two things don't fit in our hearts. So, just fill her with the fullness of Your presence, that You would assure her and accompany her to that first gathering of the Body of Christ that she goes to as a result of this decision.

May we be the hands or the feet, the welcoming voice, the hug that welcomes people like Diane in this next week, in Jesus name I ask this, amen.

Erin: Amen. One more little thought swirled in me as you were praying, Dannah. Grounded is not your church. We love talking about Jesus here. We love to open our Bibles here. We experience Christian community here. We praise God for all of that, but we are a supplement for what you are experiencing learning and growing in your local church on Sunday morning. 

Dannah: So I would throw my shoe right now ,Erin, but I am fully barefoot today on Grounded.

Erin: That's allowed in the summer. We will be here next Monday shoes on, shoes off. We'll be here, and we will be talking about womanhood and how do we celebrate our womanhood in biblical ways in this culture that is so topsy-turvy. That's next week's topic. We've got Katie McCoy lined up as our guest. If you don't know her, she is the sharpest. She's gonna have a lot to say. You're gonna love her. She is going to make your brain think when we wake up with hope together next week, on Grounded.

Grounded is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women into freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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