Recently, I wrote about how God’s design includes using a flawed church to help me grow. In other words, in His sovereignty He wants me to be part of a flawed church in part for my good. Just as God used conflict in marriage to help me grow, He uses challenges in church to sanctify me. I believe this is part of His plan for church. And, of course, all churches are flawed, so I don’t have to worry about missing out.

Well, I believe God also calls us to be part of a church where sometimes we feel like we don’t belong. Particularly, there are times when I look around and I feel surrounded by people who have a very different perspective on life, or priorities which are rather different in some ways. At times, this has bothered me and made me feel like I don’t belong. I tend to have a bit of a stoic personality, though, so this doesn’t usually get to me too much – but I know others who can feel this way, or be bothered by this, far more than me. Sometimes, this feeling of dissimilarity can even lead to feeling like we would do better in a different church, one where the other people are more like us. Surely there we would find a greater sense of belonging, right?

As I said, I believe this feeling of being different actually results from how God has designed His church. Particularly, Paul devotes considerable effort in 1 Corinthians to teaching about what church ought to be like, and he gives the analogy of the church as a body, and explains how the members are to work together for the good of the body:

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary…

(1 Cor. 12:12-22, NASB).

Here, Paul explains that the church is one body consisting of many members. And v27 completes this thought by explaining, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it”. That is, we, the church, are collectively Christ’s body, and we are individually members of his body.

I quoted much more of this passage above, though, because it speaks directly to my point. Notice that the different members of the body are looking around at the other members, realizing that they are different, and feeling like they don’t belong. The ear knows it’s different from an eye, and so it feels like it doesn’t belong. An ear isn’t much good for seeing, is it? And the foot feels like it doesn’t belong because it’s not a hand. Each member looks around and finds profound differences from the rest of the body. It’s easy, in view of these differences, to struggle with belonging.

I’d read this passage probably a hundred times, and my usual take-aways were that, first, all the parts of the body belong. Second, I realized that God has designed it this way – as it says, “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” That’s true, and it’s encouraging. It means you and I are the parts of the church that God has designed us to be. These differences are part of His design. Those are important ideas, I think.

But it was only more recently it dawned on me that I was missing something even more encouraging here. Particularly, when I look around and see big differences between myself and others in my church – differences in perspective, approach, priorities, etc., it’s these differences that should remind me that I belong. They are part of why God has me here. If my church had many other members just like me, with the same approach, priorities, and skill set, would I be an important part of the body? No. No body needs 100 hands or 100 ears. I’m not a clone of the other church members. I’m different, so I belong.

So, I hope you’ll join me in trying to remember that when we look around and see we’re different from others in church, it’s a reminder that we are part of the body of Christ. We’re not the same part as others, so these very differences are a reminder that we are important parts of the church body.