What I Learned About Faith Outside of Church Walls

I have learned that my faith can’t only be an idea or a belief, faith asks something from me. It means I act with integrity, offer help when I can, and to be a friend that carries another’s burden. And action does not mean only attending to something that is large and visible. It can mean to keep a promise, a sincere apology, speaking up with care for someone, or welcoming someone that is feeling excluded. Over time these actions become a way of life. 

For a long time in my life, I thought faith came from sitting inside a church building. Church gave me a place to practice my faith with others. Still, some of my biggest lessons on faith happen through ordinary life. Ordinary days, times when I didn’t have any answers, difficult seasons, and quiet talks among people. Faith is not limited to a building or a weekly schedule. But the base of faith most often happens in a conventional manner, in church. 

Faith is not the same as having every answer or complete control. There were occasions when I wanted immediate solutions to my problems, but faith doesn’t work out that way, faith is believing when you cannot see and when you don’t understand and when you have no control. Through those seasons in my life, faith became an act of trust. Outside of the church walls, faith showed up in acts of caring, such as visiting a sick friend, being a person who listens without interrupting and offering hope to someone struggling with life. 

Faith becomes real when I become a vehicle for change and how I serve the world around me, as well, faith is often found through choices that never receive recognition. 

Church is often where faith is taught but it is practiced and lived out through ordinary life. 

Have faith, my friends! 

Kristin