A couple weeks ago I traveled back to South Dakota to lead a conference on Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential (check out the new group study guide). My job as a guest preacher is easy. Hopefully God gives me a few helpful words to say. And I’m on my way home to Alabama.

Just about anyone can make a good impression over three days. Now the preacher who stands before the congregation week after week, that’s the hard job. It’s the familiarity that’s so difficult. Not just the challenge of coming up with something new and interesting to say every week. It’s living in community together. It’s getting to know each other over the years and observing the preacher’s flaws. Or the flaws in his family. It’s seeing that he doesn’t always live up to what he preaches.

It’s one thing to be loved. And another thing to be known. But what we all want in life is to be known and loved by the same people. It’s painful in church when members leave as they get to know you, as sanctified and yet sinner.

“When members leave, it’s easy to feel you’ve been spun in a centrifuge,” Phil Newton writes in a new article for TGC. “You’re dizzy, wondering, hurting, at a loss.”

Will you be hurt by Christians who leave once they get to know you? Of course. But God is faithful as we find joy in Jesus, shepherd his flock, overlook offenses, and do not lose heart.

P.S. — In a tumultuous time for ministry leaders, thank you for supporting The Gospel Coalition in providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, all centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. If your church would like to help TGC produce books such as Rediscover Church to remind Christians that the body of Christ is essential, please consider becoming a monthly supporter.