Getting to the Balcony

My Granddaughter Joanna is approaching two years old.  After church she loves to run into the sanctuary to hear the processional music. She also enjoys the freedom of the big space. And then she sees the balcony. She stands in the center aisle and points the balcony. Then she will jump, several times, each time looking disappointed when she doesn’t find herself in the balcony.  

Joanna is determined to jump to the balcony. For us adults, it is cute. She is experimenting with the world, basing her hope of arriving to the balcony on immature reasoning and inexperience. We, her grandparents, have more experience in this world and know the power of gravity.  

Yet, like Joanna, we also have hope, a hope that others may not have. We have a feeling of expectation that God will bring His kingdom here to earth, that things will be restored to the way they ought to be, that we are a part of that great kingdom-building enterprise. Our hope is not based on an immature understanding of the world. Our hope is grounded in the words of Scripture and in what God has put in our hearts.

Hope has been identified as one of the things that we all need to grow in faith. The Building Blocks Model lists four needs people have for faith to grow: Belonging, Knowing, Having Hope, and being Called and Equipped.

How does your church help the people who worship there to grow in their sense of hope?

Check out the Building Blocks toolkit. Here you can:

• Learn more about the Building Blocks
• See how other congregations have used them in their context
• Consider how you can use the Building Block model to enrich the faith of your congregation.