All of us who have preached for any length of time have received them.  My fellow preachers will immediately recognize the phone call I’m describing.  An apologetic, somewhat sheepish voice on the other end of the line saying, “My name is                   , and I need your help. Now, I want you to understand, I am a member of the church.  The reason you don’t know me is because I just haven’t gotten settled yet in a church home.”

The unfamiliar caller then goes on to explain his or her request: perhaps they want assistance in making a utility payment, or they are seeking free counseling to deal with family problems, or maybe they’re looking for someone to conduct a wedding.  I even received one phone call from a family with whom I was unacquainted asking me to provide a personal reference in a custody battle!  I thought that over the years I’d heard them all, but recently I ran across a story that topped any of my experiences.

In the December, 1999 issue of the Gospel Advocate, Neil W. Anderson tells the true story of a funeral director in Nashville, Tennessee who recently called the minister of a nearby church of Christ to ask if he would conduct a funeral.  The minister was informed that the family of the deceased did not “have a preacher” because they had not yet gotten settled in a church home after moving to Nashville. When the good preacher visited the home of the bereaved, the family expressed their appreciation for his willingness to help them out in their time of need.  They assured the minister that they had been active in the church before moving to Nashville, but they just had not yet connected with the church in their new home.  When the preacher asked them, “And when did you move to Nashville?” the family answered, “In 1941.”

God never intended for His
children to be spiritually
homeless. 

You might think I’m going to use this story to make some cynical comment about freeloaders who take advantage of the ministry supported by faithful Christians, only to disappear until the next crisis.  Few preachers I know, however, will refuse to help a family in genuine need, even if they aren’t members of his congregation, and I’ve done my share of funerals for strangers over the years. Moreover, I realize that occasionally a crisis can be used by God to lead people back to faithfulness.

No, I am more concerned by this story because it doesn’t surprise me at all.  I know from long observation that it is all too easy for people who have moved to fail to connect with a new church home.  In the hectic busyness of “getting settled” in a strange new city, without the support and influence of Christians who know and care for them, some folks let their priorities slip and never get around to searching for a new church home.  Before long regular worship and participation with a body of believers become distant memories, and a life without active service in the body of Christ becomes an entrenched habit.

By losing the healthy influence of Christian fellowship, and by failing to make themselves accountable to the oversight of the leaders of a local church body, these individuals become more vulnerable to Satan’s attacks, a condition Jesus described in the awful phrase, “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36; cf. Acts 20:28-31, 1 Peter 5:8-9).

God never intended for His children to be spiritually homeless.  As soon as Paul returned to Jerusalem after his dramatic Damascus conversion he sought to “join the disciples” (Acts 9:26).

So, when you move to a new location, get your phone connected, get your power turned on, and get your soul secured in a new fellowship of believers. Don’t put it off until you encounter some spiritual emergency; now is the time to get “settled”!