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Phil Madeira, songwriter and multitalented musician, writes about the necessity of dual church membership in the book City on a Hill, a book of writings by the recording artists, who also produced City on a Hill CD.

I believe in Church. I believe that it’s important to have some type of connection with other Christians, and that gathering together and lifting up Christ is a commandment. I also have come to love reading the prayers and the creeds together as a body of believers. I like the fact that this group is confessing before each other our common belief in the essential elements of our faith. And I love taking communion with my family every Sunday.

My other church is The Church of the Every Day. It is made up of a ragtag group of people, most of whom are musicians or spouses of musicians. The beliefs that I confess on Sunday mornings take on poignancy during the week. In The Church of the Every Day, my friends and I subscribe to a similar set of beliefs. The opportunities to flesh out the message of the Gospels are many in everyday living.

The Church of the Every Day is that group of Christians which sees each other on a frequent basis. It is the group that sees each other fleshing out the reality of what our creeds and prayers make claim to. It’s the group in which one feels less pressure to be anything but one’s own self, the group with which one feels the freedom to wrestle with doubt and faith. The Church of the Every Day is a sanctuary which many non-believers pass through, unknowingly, each day. From its pulpit, the only sermons delivered are the lives we live in front of each other. Remember the song, …they’ll know we are Christians by our love, The Church of the Every Day is the place where each must put his money where his mouth is.

The skeptic, the unbeliever, and even the blasphemer linger on the edges, sometimes even finding themselves in the middle of The Church of the Every Day. They are often the friends who wouldn’t even visit a “seeker church.” Sometimes they are the waiters the waitresses in restaurants.

It seems that Christians often go about their daily lives trying to be different from the rest of the world. Well, it’s one thing to try not to be worldly, but it’s quite another to avoid humanity. As we seek to be like Jesus, should we not empathize with humanity? Should we not walk among the lost and seeking as He did, consoling the misguided, broken, and bruised travelers who were all created in His image?

The Church of the Every Day is the place where people who call themselves Christians worship every day. If indeed, the Kingdom of God is a city on a hill, then The Church of the Every Day is its front porch. May the lights be found on.

City on a Hill, compiled by Steve Hindalong, includes writings by the musicians and recording artists who produced the City on a Hill CD. For more information on the companion CD project, four complete chapters, sound clips from all the songs on the CD, promo video, and photos click here.

Royalties from this book will be given to Empowering Lives International (ELI), a ministry in East Africa training people in Kenya and Tanzania in farming, irrigation, and animal care, as well as church leadership and youth ministry development. It is directed by Don and Amy Rogers.

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Taken from City on a Hill. Copyright (c) 2000 by Steve Hindalong. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 97402 and CCM Books, a division of CCM Communications, Nashville, TN 37205. Used by permission.