My friend Dave described our fellowship at Vogelweh Assembly of God in his blog. It truly was a place where you were taken out of your comfort zone and had the opportunity to grow.

What is church? Part 1
I recently got back in contact with some friends from our previous church–it was a small church of Air Force and Army families in Kaiserslautern, Germany. My family loved that church, and I’ll tell you why. Thanks to the fact we were a bunch of Americans in Germany, and through a great pastor (and family!), we lived out a real “fellowship of believers.” This family provided a great example of how church is supposed to be, and we have missed that family ever since.

We worshiped together, learned together, and grew in our walks by meeting twice a week at the base chapel. But more importantly, we ate together, talked together, traveled together, cried together, and rejoiced together. Each of us had our own spiritual gifts and talents, which were encouraged and nurtured by the pastor and his wife. Sometimes we were aware of and already comfortable with our gifts–sometimes our gifts were recognized by others who then pushed us to grow, sometimes in ways that stretched us. In each case, it was a spirit of love and love of Christ that allowed us to function as a church and community.

Most of these people, being in the military, have moved on–but we still talk, sometimes meet, and continue to live out the gifts that were grown in that church. Many of us have brought our gifts to other communities, and have spread the love of Christ around the world. For Rebecca and I, it was the closest thing we’ve had to “church” in all of our travels.

Next time, I’ll talk about our future plans for community…

I miss those relationships. Phone calls and e-mails are not the same. Treasure your friends while they are near! Push past the chit chat and get to know them, share hurts, pray for one another, sharpen each other, and provoke one another to press in to Christ. It will hurt when you part ways but it's worth it.