Daniel C Stombaugh

Open the Door, See All the People Daniel C Stombaugh

This is the church. This is the steeple. Open the doors. See all of the people. This is how it began. As a child, this was my introduction to the church, my place in the church, and the purpose of the church in the world around us. The things we have experience in our journey in understanding God's heart for us are never covered within the concept of those four hand movements because God loves to operate out from behind closed doors. In fact, we have had it all wrong for a very long time. We act out the little children's rhyme and when we "Open the doors to see all of the people" part, we are looking within the walls as if the most important thing about the purpose of the church is what happens within. The reality is the most important thing about the church is what it does without. When we open the doors we should be looking out of the church to "See all of the people." The focus of the modern Christian in many cases has become more about what is going on within the church than upon what is going on without. We have no trouble saying "This is the church; this is the steeple" part, but somewhere in the process of making those hand gestures we hit a snag. We have a disconnect with our ability to effectively get everyone within the church with a steeple to open the doors. We seem to feel a struggle with the "Open the doors and see all the people" part. Opening a door starts with one person deciding a door needs to be opened and then doing something about it. This book is an invitation to notice what we have missed.