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By Melissa Lauber

'His face bespoke his soul,' said the philosopher Voltaire. 'God has given you one face and you make yourself another,' Shakespeare said.

It?s amazing how many millions of faces there are in the world, and how unique each one is. Our faces are often maps of our spirit, emblems of unspoken creeds.

Almost everyone I know has several faces - some are worn for company, others are put on in privacy, and there are still others that we turn toward God.

At ROCK 2007 in January more than 5,000 young people gathered at the convention center in Ocean City. This was a different expression of the church, one I hadn?t seen very often before.

In just a brief stroll from the front door to the auditorium, it was easy to get drawn into the faces that gathered in that space.

I took out my camera and shot a series of quick snapshots. Each of the faces seemed like a story still unfolding. Not everyone smiled. But there didn?t appear to be a false face in the bunch.

That?s one of the impressions from ROCK that still lingers with me - the genuine faces of the youth. In frenzied dancing, quiet reflection, indifferent boredom and tear-stained prayer, they wore their reality for all to see. There was a vulnerability that surrounded their openness. There was also tremendous value.

Sometimes I think I, and some other adults in our United Methodist churches, could learn something from these young faces about making disciples.

Nothing seems to repel visitors to our churches faster or more effectively than a sense of over-devoutness. Putting on religion for Sunday morning services plays false on the face. Religion that is only skin deep, or confined to the sanctuary, is disingenuous and both reeks and damages.

Being a disciple means more than going to church. It means being part of the body of Christ - all the time, for all people - and letting that love of Christ that enlivens us to show in our faces.

Kelly Fryer, author of 'A Story Worth Sharing: Engaging Evangelism,' knows this. She spoke about it at Glen Mar UMC in Ellicott City in January.

When people think about church, they often envision going to a building for worship on Sunday morning. But there?s one thing wrong with that picture. People can leave that church,' Fryer said.

In reality, church is not something that can be left. 'We are the church,' she said. 'We can be a lazy church, a mean church, a close-minded church; but we can?t claim to not be the church.'

What does being the church mean? It?s really quite simple, Fryer said. 'We are called to participate in God?s loving mission to bless and save the world.'

One way to do that is to be aware of how God is at work in our lives and to be willing to share our stories with others.

Fryer also offers a few other tips, or rules of engagement, for those who want to share their faith.

? You don?t take God to the world. God is already out there.
? Keep your eyes, ears, mind and heart wide open to what God is already doing.
? When you see God at work - jump in!

Sometimes, said Fryer, it?s easy to look around and think, 'Is this the best plan God?s got?' But the answer, she said, is yes. 'As unbelievable as it sounds, you are God?s best plan. God is at work in and through you.'

I don?t know how wise it is for God to make us, the United Methodists of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, a part of God?s best plan. But I do take to heart being included in that plan, and I find purpose in author Victor Hugo?s words about faces.

'To love anther person,' he said, 'is to see the face of God.'