A big family

I'm preparing a series of lessons on what it means to be a Christian. Last week was based around the phrase in 1 John "born of God". Used only in this short book it appears 6 times, each time in a context that highlights one aspect of being a Christian. This week will be about what it means to be in the "family of God".

As I was preparing the powerpoint I was thinking about our very large family, spread all over the world. Above are two photos of small parts of our family after they have worshipped--two small churches from two different islands, with two different cultures, that use two different languages, etc. Now multiply that by the thousands of congregations throughout the world and you begin to see what a big family it really is.

There are 4 sound churches here in Puerto Rico, all with about 15-20 in attendance. One worships in English, so you can imagine how isolated they sometimes feel. Yes, they share a building with a Spanish speaking group, but they meet at different times and hardly see one another. But even though they are so few here they, like all of us, are part of the family of God.

Please pray for your family throughout the earth. Some suffer persecution (China, Nigeria, etc.), some are starving (Zimbabwe, The Phillipines), some are almost totally ignored (Western Europe), while others are working in areas where people are more receptive to the Gospel, but they all need your prayers.

Tol