I was talking to a guy at work today about his life and he told me he "wasn't the best in school."
Here's a guy who's a hard worker, easy to get along with, good at math, and other things, but because he had trouble with some reading skills, his school experience was negative.
Obviously there are different kinds of smarts. Most public schools only test and reward book smarts, or even more specifically, English smarts. Thankfully there are some that have intense art, computer, music, and shop classes to develop children according to their own skill set.
What does this have to do with church? Too many times, the leaders in the church are the book smart or people smart. More and more I see that God has put so many people together in very different ways, and then the Holy Spirit comes along and gives different gifts to people. For instance, how great would it be for a church to have an encouragement ministry, or a media ministry that goes beyond DVD's and electric guitars? How cool would it be to have real art inside the church? I know some people that just like to meet new people and socialize all the time. Certain types of people get upset at these social butterflies because they don't get many tasks done, or do they?? I would love to have a church full of people that just want to make friends and make people smile.
Of course the church is more than a social club, but with our society's high mobility and the breakdown of the family, we really need a place where you can be yourself, help others, and learn about the nature of God in more tangible ways than just listening to a preacher. What some would call mere "socializing," I call deep fellowship. Again, different people have different gifts and skills.
Everyone in a church should have the feeling that they are making a valuable contribution to the life and health of the church body, even youth and young adults.
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