Dave had become a Christian in jail and was nervous about getting out. He had never known church on the outside and expressed some concern about fitting in. He was keen to join a church and continue his walk with Jesus. Since I had known him he had moved to another jail but I had encouraged him, when he got out, to find a church that faithfully taught the Bible. I also gave him my phone number so he could let me know how he was going.

I never got that phone call and wondered if he was still walking with the Lord. I continued to pray for him occasionally. Then one day I ran into him in the local shopping centre. He was glad to see me and we went and had coffee.

Things were going well for Dave. He had found a job which he had held down for the past 18 months. We socialised a bit and I finally asked him if he was still walking Jesus. Almost offended by the question, Dave said, "Of course!" And church? "Of course!" The Lord was doing a mighty work in this man's life.

As Dave continued to talk about his church I was a little surprised. Dave is a young man (mid 20s), not well educated and works in a non-skilled job. The church he's going to has a high demographic of professionals with tertiary education and Dave would be the youngest member by at least 20 years. He talked about his reasons for going to this church.

"It's the nearest one to where I live," he said. "Why not go a little bit further to a church with  people his own age and other things he might have in common?" I asked.

Dave said that when he was in jail there were some inmates who refused to come to chapel because they didn't like some of the others who were there. They saw them as hypocrites, pretending to be Christians on Sunday but getting involved in wrong stuff during the week. Dave said he knew this about the inmates and struggled for a while with it. He finally realised that what he had in Chapel was not the people he liked, but the people God wanted there. So he put up with their double standards. He prayed for them in the hope that the Holy Spirit would change their lives to be more like Jesus.

Dave told me that when he got out and started going to church he realised it was not about finding the place where he felt most comfortable. It was more about simply joining with God's people. Despite the fact there was no one in this church close to his age, and that he often didn't even understand some of the words his Christian brothers and sisters used, Dave came to enjoy the fact that this bunch of people were God's chosen people. He began to enjoy the diversity of people God had called to Himself.  This was more important for Dave than meeting with people more like him because it spoke loudly to him of the grace of God in bringing all sorts of people to himself. And he said, "If heaven's going to be full of all sorts of people from all nations, I better get use to meeting with people who aren't like me now."

Most of us look for a church we feel comfortable in. We like the music, we like the preaching, we like the liturgy or lack of liturgy. We like the people because they're like us. What a shame. Yes, there are reasons we will choose one church over another. Yes, we do get hurt and move on. Yes, some churches do preach heresy. But Dave has hit on something I think we truly miss out on. Church is about the gathering of God's people. These are the people God has chosen. Who am I to say I don't like his choice and move on to find people more like me?

Feature photo: mikecogh