PEOPLE LIKE US

You can feel it, even when no one says it.
Some topics make the room feel tense. Certain words make people shift in their seats. We don’t always talk about politics in church, but that doesn’t mean politics aren’t shaping the room.

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​In a recent podcast Sharon McMahon said it plainly:
“People aren’t choosing churches based on theology anymore. They’re choosing based on political and cultural alignment.”

That line stuck with me. Because she’s not accusing, she’s observing. And I think on some level she’s right. More and more, we find ourselves drawn to people who think like we do, vote like we do, talk like we do. It feels safer that way. More comfortable.

But comfort doesn’t always mean health. And agreement doesn’t always mean growth.

It’s easy, even natural, to treat church like a club; a group that gathers around shared preferences, shared politics, shared personalities. But that’s not the Church Jesus is building.

Clubs gather around likeness.
The Church gathers around Christ. It gathers around the table. It gathers around the font. It gathers around the cross.

The danger is subtle, but it runs deep. When we quietly sort ourselves by politics or culture, the gospel starts to shrink. We stop preaching Christ crucified and start preaching comfort. We become more worried about offending our group than about following Jesus. And before long, the church starts to reflect the divisions of the world instead of the unity of God’s kingdom.

When we limit our community to people who confirm what we already believe, we stop being formed. We trade transformation for reinforcement. We confuse unity with sameness. And slowly, we start building walls where Christ has already torn them down.

The letter to the Ephesians puts it this way: “For he is our peace... and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us... that he might create in himself one new humanity” (Ephesians 2:14–15).

This is not just about getting along. It’s about becoming something new. Not a red church or a blue church. Not a conservative body or a progressive one. But a people reshaped by the cross. A community where grace runs deeper than agreement. A body, not a club.

That doesn’t mean we won’t disagree. We will. It doesn’t mean we all leave our convictions at the door. We shouldn’t. But it means the love of Christ becomes the foundation strong enough to hold us all—especially when we don’t see things the same way.

This fall, we’re opening space for that kind of formation. Not tribal sorting. Not spiritual echo chambers. But small groups, women’s and men’s gatherings, conversations shaped by grace and guided by Scripture. A chance to grow in Christ alongside real people—not perfect people, not always like-minded people—but people shaped by the same Spirit.

We may not agree on everything.
But we can belong to the same Body.
And we can grow in Christ—together.

Peace,
Travis Segar
Pastor for Care and Community