Labels: "A sticky situation"

This post is a result of a friend's suggestion that we write a book together about our "church without a name". Thanks Rick, for your suggestion...who knows, maybe this will be the future introduction to our "book". :)

I was asked by someone the other day regarding the name of the church gathering I attended. I love it when I get asked about our church's name because it gives me the opportunity to share about my "fellowship of the heart" with others. I also hate it when asked this question, because I feel like most folks think we are attending some type of "cult" or something. "drink the koolaid! drink the koolaid!" Nothing could be further from the truth!

Our little "fellowship of the heart" doesn't have a name on purpose. We frankly don't like labels. As the title to the post reflects, labels tend to stick to a person or group of people and rarely effectively represent a true picture of said person or group. Labels limit. Labels reduce the essence of a living being down to a controllable size. Labels are not what God intended for His people.

I answered the question, "what is the name of your church gathering?", with "it's the Church that meets at the Coffee Company downtown on Thursday nights at 7:00 p.m., come in the back door." My friend laughed and said, "that sure is a funny name for a church, but it is descriptive." I wish we humans didn't have some innate need to label everything. I wish we didn't feel the need to compartmentalize everything, but I guess that is an "easy" way out. Applying compartmentalized labels to everyone and everything keeps us from having to get involved; keeps us from having to get "messy", but it also becomes a "sticky situation" when we consider the thing that Jesus pushed us toward: Living in REAL RELATIONSHIP with God and with others.

Be careful about applying labels, it can become a sticky situation! One in which you do not want to get "stuck"!