A farm with no fence...

Ever see a farm with no fence?

Why not?

Because the animals would get out and the farmer would lose money. And even if the animals stayed along the property line, there is no protection for the animals.

They can be stolen.

Other animals can harm or even kill them.

In essence, a farm without a fence makes no sense. It marks your property, it protects your valuables, and it lets people know they are stepping onto your tuff.

So, let’s applied this concept to the church.

A church with a fence (arbitrary rules and regulations) poses the question are you in, or are you out?

Are you going to buy into our beliefs…

our package…

our rules…

adopt our agenda…

Are you one of us…or one of them?

If that’s the case, who decides who gets in and goes out?

Is there room for people to get in? Can people get out?

Instead, what if we viewed the church as a farm with no fence?

The question then would be are you moving towards the farm (God) or away from it?

Should the church’s identity be defined primarily by its edges…its borders…its fence? Or should the church’s identity be defined by its center…focused on Christ, the sole source of our identity?

A church with no fence doesn’t have intruders…

A church with no fence doesn’t have aliens hopping the fence…

Because there is no fence.

A church with no fence offers love and grace.

And by church I’m not talking about a building…a structure.

I’m talking about people who are human translations of divine love, people whose words and actions don’t grasp for God as much as they reveal a God who grasps for them.

Hard stuff that I am still trying to process…

Does my farm have a fence?