Just Passing Through

One of the blessings we've enjoyed over the years is getting to meet brothers and sisters from all over the world who come to Madeira for holidays. After the advent of time share, we found that many of these people began coming on a regular basis, usually once a year, or sometimes more, sometimes less frequently.

It was while we were visiting this week with one such brother who first came to our services back in 1984 that I once again thought about how many people have passed through our church in the last 28 years. The number of tourists who visit one Sunday, perhaps two, and who may return to Madeira, or perhaps not, would be in the thousands. Even as small in number as our church is, we have seen regular attenders and members that number in the hundreds. Where are they now?

Like any church, we have had drop outs, disciplinary actions, and deaths. Perhaps because of the nature of our location, being an island with a history of emigration, many of our former members have moved on to other continents. More than one has said that they learned many things about God and Christian living while they were with us. So far, the number of native Madeirans in our membership is relatively small, and obviously we have the challenge of evangelizing the island we are located on. However, we may have just as great a role in instructing and discipling those who are passing through, whether for one Sunday or one year, whether they come from mainland Portugal, South Africa, or South America.

In fact, and according to Hebrews 11, all of God's people are just passing through, anyway. We're passing through this world, looking for a city that has foundations; no matter how long we stay at any one place, it will never be truly our home. We're all passing through, although we may not pay much attention to that fact until a sudden death or a short visit of loved ones reminds us how brief our passage can be.