By BILL BROWN / Guest columnist

Has you life been changed because of the ministries offered at your church?

For some of us, the answer is a resounding yes. Some people have had their entire lives shaped by the church.

It would be hard for me to deny that my life has not been changed because of the church, since I am now a pastor (that’s a whole lot of change). For some of us, we need to look at our lives and ask ourselves this question: Is my life any different because I am a member of my church?

Think about it. Are you doing anything different because you are a member of a church? Is you life different just on Sundays?

Maybe you started to do things that you didn’t use to do, i.e., read the Bible on a daily basis or spend time in prayer more often. Have you started or joined a ministry?

We should all be in the process of being changed by our experience with church. Our Christian journey is something that is never-ending. The church is a place for us to be changed and for us to help others change.

If we give our hearts to Christ, we are really asking God to change us, to mold us and to use us. This needs to be something we do on a daily basis.

If a potter is molding clay and then stops and comes back again a few days later, he had to soften the clay again. There must be water added and time given for the clay to become moist and pliable so the potter can begin to shape and mold.

It is much better for the potter to not start and stop, start and stop, but to always be in constant contact with the clay. It is even harder to shape the clay if he comes back to the potter’s wheel and the clay has disappeared. He them must look for the clay.

Sometimes the change comes very slowly and subtly, and we don’t even realize we have changed. We need to examine our lives and ask God to show us how the Holy Spirit is changing us.

Bill Brown is pastor of the Montevallo United Methodist Churc