Here in Australia we have a lot of place names that stem from Indigenous Australian words, and I love discovering their meanings. For example, Murwillumbah, meaning “place of many possums”, Yarrahapinni, meaning “koala rolling down a mountain” or Cooranbong, meaning “water over rocks”.
Wahroonga is a name I have heard my whole life, being the place in Sydney known for its Adventists due to the Sydney Adventist Hospital and the South Pacific Division offices. However, it wasn’t until I started attending church in Wahroonga that I discovered the meaning behind the name. The word comes from the Ku-ring-gai language and it means “our home”. It struck me that the name of my church is “Our Home Seventh-day Adventist Church”. That has a whole lot of meaning. We often say that church is a home, and we use the words “church family”, but I wonder if we really take that to heart.
During the pandemic I felt really disconnected from church, even between and after the lockdowns. I wasn’t involved in the service in any way and would just show up to church at 11am. The service would be over by noon and I would leave soon after. It wasn’t until I went abroad for a year and joined a tight-knit Adventist community that I began to realise what it meant to be part of a church, to do more than just sit in the pew—to be involved, surrounded by dedicated people who were serious about their faith. Being part of this community also staved off a lot of loneliness I might have otherwise had felt.
Levels of loneliness have been increasing, slowly but steadily, as the years pass. There are many speculated reasons for this, but the fact is that many people, despite connectedness via the internet, are lonely. One thing known to combat loneliness is if individuals belong to some sort of group, for example a club, society or church community. For many, attending church is just a tradition. For others, unfortunately and untrue, they see it as a means to salvation. But I think the real purpose of church is connection–real connection. Not just surface-level connection—smiling, making small talk and pretending everything is okay—but being open, vulnerable and willing to discuss the messy parts of life, not just the good. That is what a home is–a place where you can be yourself, a place where you can be real.
The New Testament writers have a lot to say about what church should be like. In Acts 2, after Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit came down and inspired the believers, Paul writes how they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”, how they were all “together and had everything in common”, how they “continued to meet together in the temple courts. . . praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people”. (Acts 2:42-47). Notice how they mentioned fellowship? Alongside the praising and worshipping? Fellowship is a word we Christians love but sadly don’t always embody. Meeting and connecting with each other was just as important as the outreach they were doing, and it should be the same today. And it’s not all just on the pastor’s shoulders, either. I’ve seen pastors working tirelessly and members not really responding to efforts to connect. It can take effort and sacrifice, but the benefits are worth it.
And remember, the early church was far from perfect. Truth be told, they had as many problems as we do today, shown in many of the letters Paul writes, pleading the believers to get along. You see, you can have a loving home but know that it’s not perfect. People are not perfect; therefore, families cannot be perfect. In the same way, the church is made up of broken people. We should strive for the ideal but realise we won’t be perfect. Give the church grace like God gives us grace and continue to do our best to be the family of God and to make our churches welcoming, safe homes for anyone who wishes to enter.
Ashley Jankiewicz is an assistant editor at Adventist Record.
