Churches have been using buses to haul believers to events, conferences, and missions trips for decades. But not all church buses are the same. I recently sat with a group of Filipino pastors, one of whom had spent most of his life in a country where Christianity was outlawed, Bibles were banned, and public expressions of faith could cost you everything. What follows is a glimpse into his story and his time spent on a church bus.

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Imagine needing a text from your pastor before leaving for church—confirmation that no police or suspicious figures were watching the building. The church itself didn’t look like a church at all, but a house with false windows and padded walls. Foam and cardboard egg cartons lining the interior to muffle the sound of worship or the pastors voice when he couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. The light bulbs on the exterior corners provided no light, but instead they were disguised security cameras, letting the pastor monitor the street. Worshipers arrived in twos and threes, never all at once, careful not to draw the eye of watchful neighbors or the attention of the religious police.

They carried on that way for years, sometimes cancelling service at the last minute to prevent potential arrests, sometimes changing buildings when the wrong person was allowed access. Every time they gathered, they knew the risks; they might be deported, arrested, or worse. But God called them to assemble and obedience wasn’t optional.

Despite the extreme caution eventually they were found out. One Sunday as the congregation worshiped together the distant sound of sirens grew louder and louder. The religious police had arrived and they had with them a list with the names of all the church leaders. They had a small van and intended to arrest those who would dare come and study the Bible and praise the Lord. But when they opened the door they were shocked, what they assumed was a small gathering of a few believers that would easily be rounded up, instead turned out to be far larger than expected. There were too many to arrest, too many to fit in the van, and not enough officers to control them all. So the police were forced to release all but the leaders, leaving the rest under the threat of repercussion, arrest, and violence if they gathered in fellowship again.

The church was shaken and suffering. The church was weakened, but to no surprise it was not defeated. Jesus said even the gates of Hell couldn’t prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18) so what were they to do?

For a time, they met in secret, just one or two families at a time in their homes, clinging to Scripture in whispers and near solitude. The church was fragmented. Their faith held firm, but they were convinced God had something more for them.

They had no buildings, no freedom, and no plan. But God is really good at making a way when we can’t see it. Time and again the Bible shows that our inability is no problem for Him. In fact, He tells us our weakness and desperation are actually assets (2 Corinthians 12:9–10). When we come to the end of ourselves, He can display His strength most clearly. He delights in using what is weak to display His strength. And just when the way forward seemed impossible, one man had an idea.

There was a church member employed as a bus driver. His route from one city to another, passed through rural villages. The bus was big enough to carry a crowd, a crowd that no one would ever suspect. So, the men of the church bought every single ticket. No women and no children because that would be suspicious. It was a risk that would draw to much attention. The pastor would stand in the aisle, someone would bring a guitar or drum and preaching and song could be heard over the sound of the loud diesel motor. The bus became their sanctuary.

From one city to the next, they held church on the move. By the time the bus pulled back into the terminal, they had worshiped, prayed, and studied the Bible together. The bus company was unaware and did not care. They were legitimate paying passengers. When the men returned home, they passed on what they had learned to their families. The church grew stronger.

They met like this, on wheels, for three years. And to my knowledge not once were they caught.

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There are plenty of reasons people give for not loving or committing to the church. It can let us down, disappoint us, and to commit to community at the level God instructs requires sacrifice. And here’s the thing—God still calls us to it. The church remains a beautiful and irreplaceable gift from God, not as an optional add on, but a necessity (Hebrews 10:25). If you took the time to read this story, written by a pastor for a church newsletter, you probably already get why the church matters. I hope you value it. But if you don’t, or if you ever find yourself thinking it’s not that important, and are tempted to take it or leave it, remember the church bus unlike any other, and remember that there are people all over the world who would give anything just to be part of what you are inclined to overlook.

After all God was willing to sacrifice His beloved Son for the church and Jesus redeemed it with His own blood (Ephesians 5:25 & Acts 20:28).

Recently, as I have been preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, we covered chapter 20 and I noticed a jarring reality about the actions of Jesus’s closest, most devoted and beloved followers. It had nothing to do with their impressive or radical commitment, love, and care for Christ, but instead was marked by a severe disregard and careless attitude at a time when you would expect the very opposite.

Jesus has just finished giving an urgent warning to the disciples of the dire future that awaited Him. He explained to them the excruciating suffering and even death that He was about to experience. In return we see them respond with what can only be described as selfish indifference. You would expect them to react with care and concern for Him and His wellbeing and yet, instead of being overwhelmed by the words of Jesus, this significant topic is ignored because they are unable to take their attention off themselves.

Jesus says “I am going to be spit on, suffer, be tortured to the very edge of death, and then I will be killed. By the way, I am doing this for you.” With these words, you would expect the disciples to be overwhelmed — to focus their attention on Jesus’ unimaginable suffering. But instead, what do they do? The disciples hear this stirring warning and in response, they decide that it is a great time to start demanding their place of power and importance. And this is not the only time Jesus calls their attention to Him only to be ignored. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus gave the same warning only to be followed by the disciples’ all too common argument about which one of them is the greatest.

It seems absurd, doesn’t it? How could they be so foolish? How could they be so self-focused and self-consumed in the face of Christ’s suffering? We better be careful before we go pointing our fingers in accusation because the reality is, it is really not much of a surprise. Take a look around — we live in a world that constantly pushes us to focus on ourselves: from social media to self-help culture, it’s all about “me.” People are so self-focused and self-concerned that we see little concern or thought to those around us even including the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus should not have to jump up and down screaming to get our attention. Our eyes should always be locked on Him, but that would require we take them off ourselves. That is an act most seem so unwilling to do these days.

People love to claim concern for Jesus and yet their actions prove otherwise. The reality is that many professing believers show more concern for what clothes they are going to wear on any given day than for Christ and His kingdom. The disciples ignored God in the living and breathing flesh right in front of them. We still do it now by our disregard for His Bride, the church. It’s all too easy to be consumed by our hobbies, careers, and comforts. We close our eyes to the things of greater importance because we have allowed ourselves to become self-important.

Let us become like John the Baptist and say not just with our words but with our lives “He must increase. I must decrease” In short, let us get over ourselves. It would be such a shame to waste our lives away concerned with things that will only prove in the end to have been fleeting and of no real significance.

Before Jesus even left this world, people began to close their eyes to Him distracted by their own self-obsession. Jesus suffered and died for us — is that not enough to shift our focus from ourselves to Him? Is that not enough to turn your concern and attention from your own cares, desires, and purposes to the ones that He holds as important?

Back home in Wisconsin I never really wondered if I would get a flat tire. I never worried whether or not the water heater would be broken. I took a lot of everyday things for granted. Today marks exactly one year of living in the Philippines. It has been a year of ministering in new ways to new people, complete with all the joys and challenges. It’s been one year of meeting new friends, one year of making a fool of myself trying to live in an unknown culture, one year of insane traffic and frustrating inefficiency. It’s also been a year of being (in some ways) distant from the church that I had loved and committed myself to. That distance has allowed me a perspective that I may never had known otherwise.

The phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder” can be traced all the way back to authors in the 1600s. At this point I believe it’s true. I am currently 7,906 miles away from the church that showed me what Christianity really was and gave me a group of friends that were closer to me than I honestly would have thought possible and I am probably more thankful to the church than ever.

I can also say that this distance has revealed how easily I took the church I loved that totally changed my life for granted. And if you are taking the time to read this blog you probably do to. What once was a cause for great excitement, joy, devotion, and love can all to easily become a source of apathy and inspire only half-hearted commitment. Eternal gratitude fades to a complacent attitude of taking it all for granted.

When you take something for granted you don’t strive for it anymore. If I take my marriage for granted, I assume it will remain healthy no matter what I might do. If you take your job for granted you don’t put forth your best effort as an employee, because you believe your job is secure either way. When we start to take the church for granted, we will expect it to continue to function as God has instructed with no effort put in on our part. We assume the Church will evangelize the lost, but we don’t tell anyone about Jesus. We assume that lunch will be served after church, but we aren’t bothered to step up in our commitment to service. We assume that preaching will be Biblically accurate and move the hearer to obedience, but we can’t be bothered to obey ourselves.

What Believers church strives to be as a church is rare. In the last year I have visited my fair share of churches and I wouldn’t want to join any of them. Be thankful for the work that God is doing, the people He is doing it through, and the community He has called you into. Don’t allow familiarity to breed complacency, because from what I see, Believers church is something special. And if you assume that it will remain the “Biblical, Missional, Radical” community that God desires with no effort on your part, you just might be taking it for granted. Be thankful for what it is, and let that gratitude motivate you to fight for it.