Believe for It, page 3
Long before I was old enough to sing my first solo, my brothers were on that church platform singing. Our parents raised us to know that one of our primary purposes was to be a blessing to others and serve the church with our gifts. That’s how I came to sing my first solo, “Fill My Cup, Lord,” when I was eight years old. Sister Joyce Glenn, a relative and my Sunshine Band teacher, assigned me that solo. She believed I was ready, but I did not. I loved being in the Sunshine Band Choir, singing with all my friends. But the last thing I wanted was to be out front on that stage. I was very comfortable in the background. Singing that solo was never presented to me as an option, though. I would be singing it, whether I wanted to or not.
And so, at the church’s annual convocation—a gathering of Pentecostal churches from around the region—I sang my debut solo. As I forced my feet to carry me from my seat in the audience to the microphone at the front of the church, my Mack Avenue family and actual family cheered me on: “Sing, CeCe!” “Sing, baby!” “Sing for Jesus, child.”
I stepped up to the microphone, and Sister Glenn and I exchanged a look. Her warm smile gave me confidence, though I was still petrified. As the piano notes swelled, I began to sing.
Fill my cup, fill it up, and make me whole.
Tears streamed down my face during the entire performance, which I would reprise each year for many years after. I wish I could say I was overcome with emotion from the Holy Spirit, but the truth is, like Jonah in the Bible, I was a reluctant minister that day. Still, when I finished my song and saw those in the audience wiping their eyes, a warm feeling washed over me. I realized God had used me, and I felt His call to use my voice to minister within the church and beyond. Church had provided the context in which God showed me my purpose in His kingdom. At the tender age of eight, I discovered that God could use me, CeCe Winans, to bless and encourage His people.
The beauty of the body of Christ is in that place, even a young child can be used by God. As we grew, my brothers, sisters, and I never doubted our purpose or value. Along with the blessing of loving, supportive parents, we were deeply rooted in a community of fellow believers who cheered us on in our race. I am reminded of the words found in Hebrews 12:1–2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
The congregation at Mack Avenue was my cloud of witnesses. The fact is my own family made up an entire cheering section! When those saints encouraged me with “Sing, CeCe!” my dad was probably the loudest voice in the room. The sense of connection I had at church strengthened me for the challenges I faced as I headed into my teen years and adulthood. That community deeply shaped my values and desires. I was able to withstand peer pressure because I knew I wasn’t alone. I had friends and fellow saints walking the same path and cheering me on, and I knew I’d see them again soon—and that we would have biscuits.
RESHAPING REALITY
I want to pause here to address those of you who have had a very different experience from mine. Maybe you didn’t grow up attending church. Perhaps you’ve had a bad experience with the church and you’re not currently attending. You may have read my story and thought, That sounds a little too good to be true. What kid likes to go to church? Or maybe you’re wondering if I’m overselling it a bit. I urge you to hear me out. Jesus loves the church, and that’s a good enough reason to consider, at the very least, how it could help us in this mission of passing on faith to the next generation.
One of the beautiful things about the body of Christ is that it offers an alternative to the world and the elements that shape us on a consistent basis. Our children are molded by what they hear at school, on television, from friends, in the locker room, and on the Internet. If you’re like most American families, the time you spend at church is likely minimal compared to time given to these other influences. And yet, Romans 12:2 says clearly, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Church is a place where we engage in the process of having our minds renewed and our worldly thought patterns corrected. It’s where we encourage one another and confess our sins. Church is the place where we experience the family of God—our brothers and sisters—reminding us of our shared purpose and God’s wonderful works.
SECRET WEAPON
When our young family moved from Detroit to Nashville in 1989, one of Alvin’s and my top priorities was finding a church to plug into. With two children ages five and under, we were looking for a church with a good children’s ministry where we could also be fed spiritually and grow. We found that at Born Again Church, a nondenominational congregation. To me, church has always been an extended family. It’s a place to put down roots and watch things grow. Alvin III and Ashley were both baptized there as teenagers.
We attended church as a family on Sunday morning and for Wednesday Bible study. My children understood church was not optional. But I believe they were happy and truly enjoyed being there. Church was a safe place, a shelter from the world, where they heard the Word of God and came to saving faith in Christ. Our church attendance wasn’t perfect, but it was an integral part of our week and identity as a family.
Church is the place where we experience the family of God—our brothers and sisters— reminding us of our shared purpose and God’s wonderful works.
Because in my family attending church was nonnegotiable, honoring the Lord and going to church were inseparable. Our involvement with our local church was central, and everything else went around it. Today I observe the opposite: we have our lives and activities (“the struggle”), and we squeeze God in where we can. Sports, travel, and recreation compete for our allegiance to the church.
Polls show that just about 35 percent of American families attend religious services on a regular basis, with only 20 percent attending weekly.1 (And these statistics came before the worldwide pandemic that further curtailed church attendance.) To me, this consistent decline in church attendance we’ve seen over the past fifty years is a sign that we may not be effectively passing on faith.
And yet, the gathering of the faithful is what God uses to transfer faith from one generation to the next; I believe the local church is one of the most underutilized tools for passing on faith to the next generation. In Old Testament times, this work was accomplished through the spiritual rituals and services at the tabernacle and in the synagogue. The people spent hours each week with their faith communities, reminding one another of God’s statutes and His promise to send a Messiah. In this context, they taught their children about the Lord and how they were to follow Him.
Gathering with the fellowship of believers continued to be a practice in the New Testament. Jesus founded the church on His disciple Peter “the Rock.” This is how Peter describes the church: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10).
Through the church, Jesus made us “a people,” His special possession, diverse but united in Christ. The apostle Paul spent much of the epistles affirming the importance of the church and describing its function. Perhaps one of the most compelling pictures of the church he provides is the bride of Christ: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25–27).
What a beautiful, personal picture of Christ’s covenant love for the true believers who comprise His church. On my wedding day, I wore a beautiful white dress and veil. As I walked down that aisle, all eyes were on me. But the eyes that mattered most were those of my adoring groom, Alvin. The love a bride feels on her wedding day is second to none. That is the love Christ has for the church.
As I have counseled through the years, I have encountered many stories of people being hurt and misunderstood by the church. Hearing about some of these sad experiences, I understand how the enemy could entice some to abandon the church altogether. I am grieved by it, and I believe our Lord Jesus weeps over the mis-treatment of His beloved and how these incidents mis-represent Him. Leaving the church will not solve our problems; it will only compound them. If you have been hurt by the church, I am sorry and would suggest that you grieve that.
But we cannot deny the fact that the church—true believers around the world—is still the bride of Christ, honored and adored. And He desires to wash her in His Word and present her as a blameless, radiant bride. Look to Jesus for healing and redemption, and pray that He would lead you to a congregation that is faithfully preaching and practicing His Word.
When it comes to passing on faith to the next generation, I believe church is not only a necessary ingredient but also a secret weapon. As I’ve reflected on my own church experiences and those I desire for my children and grandchildren, here are a few benefits I see of filling those pews.
Church offers a rich, multigenerational experience with fellow believers. When I walked through the doors of Mack Avenue, I encountered saints of all ages. I had a front-row seat to watching mature believers working out their salvation, serving, loving, giving, testifying, and walking in the Spirit. I observed my parents honoring and respecting their elders. I witnessed the older women pouring into the younger women. The teenagers and young adults looked up to my mom and dad and served them by helping with their youngsters.
When people in the church had needs, I watched as those in the congregation rallied to help. They worked willingly without expecting anything in return. They simply served as Scripture commands, gladly with joyful hearts. I imagine this was like the early church, where “all the believers were together and had everything in common” (Acts 2:44). Young and old worshipped together and cared for each other in a way that resembled a family. In my experience, church is a family. Having everything in common didn’t mean they were a homogenous congregation. In actuality, the early church was a diverse group of Greeks, Jews, and other ethnicities, all united by salvation through Jesus. Christians of all ages and backgrounds benefited from the mutual edification of coming together.
Church reinforces the precepts of God. One of the purposes of the local church is to teach and protect sound doctrine. So much of my life centered around God’s Word simply because I was always sitting in those pews. There were times when the Winans kids nodded off or sat in the back finishing a homework assignment, but my mom didn’t mind. She figured the Word was working its way into our hearts and doing its good work there.
“I don’t care if you fall asleep,” she’d say. “At least you’re in the atmosphere. Things are going in your mind that you don’t even know are going in.” And she was right. Over time, soaking in “the atmosphere” transformed me. Church was where I memorized Scripture, received biblical teaching, and learned what God required of me as His follower. I may not have been listening to the Word all the time, but I was constantly hearing it.
I’ve adopted this philosophy with my toddler grandson, Wyatt. I often read Scripture out loud to him, and we listen to verses set to music. I tell him, “You are a mighty man of God.” Although he doesn’t understand much of it yet, he is learning that his family believes in God and follows Him.
I am so thankful for the foundation I received. Had I not spent all those hours in church, flipping open the pages of my old King James Version Bible and taking notes in my worn notebook, I would not be the woman of the Word God steadily transformed me into. Church offers our children the benefit of other voices reaching them with the truth of God’s Word and reinforcing what they’ve heard in the home.
Church provides a context to live out our calling. Another benefit of church involvement is that it reminds us of our unique calling as Christians. The Greek word ekklesia, from which we get the New Testament word church, means “a called-out assembly or congregation.” The church is a gathering that instructs us how to live biblically and provides a context for doing so.
Every day the world tells us what is best for our children, and this information is not always in line with what we find in Scripture. The world encourages us to give our children opportunities for academic and athletic advancement; raise them to respect different points of view and treat others with kindness; and instill in them the character and self-control to steer clear of drugs, alcohol, and other destructive influences.
While these are all positive things, statistics show that our best efforts are falling short when it comes to raising happy, healthy adults. Cases of anxiety and depression among youth are on the rise, nearly doubling during the pandemic.2 Despite having an abundance of opportunities and activities, many teens describe feeling a lack of purpose in their lives. I am not at all saying that teens who attend church will not experience the struggles that plague their peers; they may. However, being immersed in a healthy church family provides a sense of purpose and community.
For my mom and dad, church was a place that reinforced the calling they found in Scripture and were seeking to pass down to their children. Growing up at Mack Avenue Church and later Shalom Temple, I never questioned that I had a purpose and a calling. From the moment I sang that first solo for Sister Glenn, I knew God could use me. I didn’t know exactly what my future held, but I knew my true purpose in life was to love God and spread that love to others.
As I grew, I discovered the gifts God had given me— obviously ministering through music but also gifts of teaching and exhortation. I’m not sure I would have discovered these competencies apart from the context of the local church. Scripture depicts the church as body parts contributing to the healthy performance of one body. I love that vivid picture. The members can never do individually what they can do together. And the healthiest churches are those where each part is functioning in the job it was designed to do supported by all the other parts.
Church provides a sense of belonging. One of the greatest benefits I have gained from the body of Christ is the comfort of belonging. For the past four decades, I have traveled all over the world. Each place I go, I find home with fellow believers in the church. My siblings and I never minded going to church as kids because our friends were there. At school I may have been called a “holy roller,” but within the walls of my church I was valued, seen, and loved. I had many role models apart from my parents and siblings who poured into me and helped strengthen my faith.
A well-known African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” This was very true of my childhood church experiences. Within its walls, my parents found a community ready and willing to reinforce the faith they were teaching us in the home. My spiritual wellness and moral upbringing were a concern to everyone, not just my parents. The people of my home church were my extended family, and I valued their input into my life.
NECESSARY, NOT OPTIONAL
Not long ago, I was on the show Better Together with author and speaker Amie Dockery, and she said something profound: “What we make optional, the next generation will deem unnecessary.” Whew. Oh Lord, let that sink in. When we see ungodliness or irreverence for God’s house in the upcoming generation, we must consider if part of that is a result of us making church optional. The next natural step is for them to believe that church must not be that important and that it might even be unnecessary. Yet when you look at what our young people are up against, they need Jesus and His church more than ever.
We need to wake up and consider whether we’re placing our children into an environment that will lead to deeper faith. I have spoken with many parents and grandparents whose desire is to see their young people come to saving faith in Christ and flourish in their spiritual walks. However, some of them are leaving out this significant piece—making church a priority for their families.
When I think back to those marathon Sundays at Mack Avenue, I hold many fond memories. Those days may be distant, but I can remember the sweetness, love, and community they held. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” For me, church has been a refuge from the world and a place where I can live out my calling and be my true self. It has been a place where I have tasted and seen God’s goodness (and feasted on some of the best actual meals of my life). That is what church was meant to be.
When Alvin and I founded Nashville Life, I wanted to help create a similarly inviting atmosphere where young people would be drawn in. I hoped to replicate the best of what I received in those formative years at Mack Avenue and Shalom Temple. I hope we all proclaim with David, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’ ” (Psalm 122:1). If we want to pass on vibrant faith to the next generation, we need to help them experience the power and community of the local church. Church is not optional; it is necessary.
QUESTIONS to CONSIDER
• What is your church background? How does that affect your current relationship with it?
