The Local Church Is Where It’s At! // Part 2

As I said in the previous blog, there is so much joy to be found in committing to and serving a local church. We get to experience the exciting journey of following Christ together, seeing His kingdom come and our communities transformed by His love and power. We are embraced into a family, receiving incredible love.

However, as we all know, being part of a family has its ups and downs, and on this side of heaven the reality is that we are going to experience suffering and times of trouble.

During this past year, the journey God has lead my church here in Florida on has been one of great blessing, yet also one of incredible loss and suffering. We have seen our church engage in worship like never before and have seen healing and lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet amidst all of this we have experienced pain. In the Summer of 2008 a gorgeous young woman in our church, Kristin Kettel, married with two young children, was diagnosed with cancer. And when I say cancer, I mean cancer that was all over her body – brain, spine, liver, lungs and some of her bones. Her prognosis was hopeless. Yet as a church that passionately believes that God heals today, we continually sought God and prayed for Kristin to be healed. For over a year there were smaller groups that would gather to prayer for her, and we would also gather as a church to lay hands on her and pray that God would heal her. During this time, my husband and I both felt led to write songs. I wrote a congregational song of intercession called ‘Heal us’ that enabled us to cry out to God, that He would stretch out His mighty hand and bring healing, yet also that we would trust in the things unseen and would not be shaken by the things in life that we do not understand. My husband, Paul felt that God gave him a song for Kristin during a personal time of worship, which spoke of not knowing what was ahead, but trusting God with it all, knowing that He is all we need. This is what Kristen wrote after we gave her this song:

Last week during one of my darkest days, I received an email from Lex stating that Paul had been praying for me and he wrote a song, he really felt like God wanted him to send me the song. Once I listened to the music, I wept for what seemed like an eternity because the song was about not knowing what the future has in store, though weak and weary, my strength alone stands in Christ and it is all I need. All I needed was to hear these words, knowing that God had revealed to Paul to send me the song and it helped me come out of my very deep dark hole. It reminded me that God did not abandon me and that He was speaking directly to me through Paul and one of my favourite outlets for escape- "a song."

In October 2009, Kristin died, and it was devastating. We really had hoped and believed for a miracle, and we didn’t understand why it didn’t happen. Yet, during worship on that first Sunday after we had received the news of her death, I stood in the service and felt a sense of ‘family’ that I had never before. It was as though our church family was closer than ever – drawn together as we had walked the journey of life with God together. We were also drawn closer to God as we loved and cared for Kristin and her family - and He was glorified through it all.

As I said in my last blog, there is something incredible about many believers gathering together from different churches, countries and nations to worship God and hear his Word. It’s so inspiring and encouraging to sing songs that worship leaders from all over the world are writing and to hear what God is doing in the global Church. There is such great value found in these times. However, it’s so important, and such treasure is found when we are committed to a local church. Its not always easy – just like any family, you’re not going to naturally get along with everyone in your local church, you may feel frustrated at times, and its a sacrifice. It requires serving - our time and energy poured out, and fully engaging - truly loving people. So just as we loved Kristin and experienced the pain of losing a precious family member, you too will probably experience pain as you ‘are devoted to one another in brotherly love’ and ‘mourn with those who mourn’ (Romans 12).

I remember the day that Paul received the email from Kristin in reply to the song he had sent her, and we were blown away that God could use a simple song to bring such hope to her in one of her darkest hours. What an incredible privilege. If you heard those songs that Paul and I wrote you may not think much of them. They aren’t gonna win any Dove Awards – but to our church family they mean a lot, because they were written in response to what we were walking through as a family. And when you’re committed to a local church and choose to love your church family and use your gifts to serve them, you realize what a privilege it is and see how valuable local church is. So let’s enjoy being part of our local churches as well as the global church. There is so much joy and excitement to be found in the events that draw different churches and nations together, and such treasure found in engaging in and being committed to our local churches!

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Lex and her husband Paul now live in Jacksonville, Florida where they head up the Worship Department at River City Church. Lex previously worked for Soul Survivor Ministries in the UK as one of their worship pastors, has sung on albums such as Matt Redmans Facedown and released an EP with Survivor Records, Through the Valley. Lex is the happy mother of Bella and Finn.