Poet Robert Frost famously said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

The same could be said about the church. For millennia, the church, whether it met in homes, in nature, or in great cathedrals, has been the odd collection of saints and sinners, healers and those wounded, citizens and strangers, who come together for one reason: to demonstrate their loyalty to Christ and the principles upon which He founded His kingdom.

Not long ago we put out a call on social media for photographs that complete the sentence: The Church I Want to Belong to Is . . . These pages feature a tiny cross- section of what it means to be part of Christ’s body in different parts of the world. While we may not see ourselves in these photos, we are part of the palette God is using to paint His masterpiece of love, mercy, grace, and justice in our communities—His church. —Editors.