A Place to Belong by Megan Hill
In an age when church attendance is considered quaint at best and hateful at worst, faithful Christians continue to gather with the people of God. But sometimes off-key singing, sparsely attended prayer meetings, and odd assortments of people can cause us to wonder, “Is this really worth it?”
In A Place to Belong: Learning to Love the Local Church, author Megan Hill answers with a resounding “yes.” She challenges readers “to see the church as God sees the church and then to embrace the privilege of being part of it”. Rather than leaving us with this general goal, she takes us on a tour of the epistles, highlighting the details of our calling as the beloved people of God, the eternal fruitfulness of our simple gatherings, and the importance of being good sheep and good shepherds.
As a longstanding member of a Sovereign Grace church, I assumed this book would be a quick review of what I already knew. However, it accomplished what its subtitle promised and convinced me not simply to like, or to attend, or to serve my local church, but to love it. Why? Because my dear savior loves it with a passion so great he gave his life for it, “And what God loves, we must love”. “Do you want to grow in Christlikeness?” Hill asks. “Come to church and love the people you find there”.
Celebrate Ordinary
When we focus too much on numerical growth or cultural influence, we miss what God is doing all around us.
When people in the church encourage one another, teach one another, serve one another, and pray for one another in dozens of small and large ways, we ought to rejoice. This is a sign of God-given life and a mark of his blessing.
Hill reminds us to move our focus from what the world loves to what God loves: namely, his people united to praise his name. As unimpressive as our gatherings may seem, God delights in them. By aligning our perspective with his, we can embrace what might otherwise discourage us and celebrate the “ordinary” works of God in our “ordinary” churches.
Anticipate Glory
The church is not merely a pastor’s job or a member’s duty, it’s the purpose of God lived out on Earth. As his people unite under his rule and reign, the triune God makes himself known. The smallest earthly gathering resounds in eternity, and each local body, thriving or struggling “can rightly be called a colony of heaven”. The faithful mundane is blindingly glorious.
A Place to Belong cleans our lenses so we can see the church rightly: beloved, precious, glorious, God’s very own. There truly is no better place on earth. Reader, don’t assume with a sigh that you already “get” the local church. Allow this book to refresh your vision so you can throw yourself into building God’s church with a new and appropriate joy.
Trish Donohue, Director of Women’s Ministries, Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA)
Reposted from the Sovereign Grace Journal, March 2023.