By David E. Sumner

My Uncle Edward, who died five years ago, was ministering to others even as he was dying. In the funeral sermon, his pastor described how “Brother Ed” carried out a telephone ministry from his hospital bed by calling others just to see how they were doing, offering encouragement, prayers, and support. Uncle Edward left me an enduring image of the “wounded healer,” also the title of the powerful book by Roman Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen. The “wounded healer” is our call to reach out and minister to others, even as we move through life with our various afflictions, illnesses, problems, challenges, and lack of time.

This story has a “Part B.” Several months before he died, I went with my mother to visit him at his home. Much to our surprise, one of his visitors was Eleanor Mobley, a retired 87-year-old public health nurse. This wonderful woman had ministered to our family during my father’s slow, agonizing death from cancer some 40 years earlier. It was she who came into the kitchen to deliver the news, “He’s gone,” and sat with us while we cried.

From these compassionate influences during my early years, I often sought the ideal “Christian community” as I made several career-related moves during my adult life. Currently I am a member of an Episcopal congregation where I have felt more of a sense of this community than any other parish to which I’ve belonged. It’s quite rewarding.

“Agape,” the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian community, means an unselfish love that doesn’t think about what others can do for you in return. A Christian community offers a place where we accept unconditionally and provide space for each other to grow in the love of Christ: a place where all are equals—rich and poor, old and young, educated and non-educated, the socially elite and the outcasts.

I don’t think it’s possible to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior without doing so in a local Christian community. The only way you really can feel and experience the love of Christ is through the interaction with other Christians. As I became more involved in the behind-the-scenes work at this parish, I have also been blessed more deeply by the depth of affection and love that we feel for one another. I don’t think you can simply sit in the pew and expect to receive the blessings that the people of any parish are capable of offering you. You have to get involved.

Years ago I was involved in diocesan and national church affairs much more heavily than I am now. I worked for five years as a diocesan staff member and served on national commissions. I wrote The Episcopal Church’s History 1945-1985 during this time and reported on six consecutive General Conventions. Like most church leaders, I believed that the diocese was the primary unit of the Episcopal Church, and that its strength—compared with those “congregationalist churches” — was that we “did things together.”

Twelve years of working in the secular world (where most Episcopalians work) have given me an entirely different perspective. I’ve changed my mind. The diocese may be a structural convenience or necessity, but the local congregation is the most basic place where ministry takes place, hearts are healed, and lives are transformed. The diocese exists to enable the ministry of the local congregation and not the other way around.

Involvement in a local church has brought me face to face with the heartaches, disappointments, joys, rewards, and challenges of living with everyday, working-class people. While I used to perceive my religious identity as an “Episcopalian,” I now see it as a “follower of Jesus.” A local congregation has changed me from a “church professional” into a caring person. That’s why I could enjoy changing light bulbs in a congregation (and writing an article about it) as much as I did interviewing bishops at General Conventions.

First Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another…” No verse contains clearer “marching orders” for a local church than this one. Our first duty within a body of believers is to encourage and support one another. I like going to church because there I receive encouragement, support and appreciation from other Christians. But it’s like the mail: To get it, you also have to give it. Next time you go to church, seek an opportunity to say some kind words of encouragement to others. Offer the kind word that strengthens and helps each other as we all go back out to face the world on Monday.

David E. Sumner is junior warden at Trinity Church, Anderson, Ind., and professor of journalism at Ball State University.

(From The Living Church, June 9, 2002)