I was privileged to serve on a team that oversaw the management and financial areas of a local church several years ago. It was an amazing time to listen and learn. This was a diverse team of women and men, with varying backgrounds designed to mirror the demographics of the church. The Leadership Team would sometimes venture outside our lane and that’s where the fun would ensue.
For a season I was tasked with the role of leading the Leadership Team. As I opened one meeting I brought up lights that had recently been installed for use during praise and worship. I outlined that I felt these lights were intrusive and too bright for an old guy in his late 40’s like me. In my immutable wisdom (insert laughter here), I suggested we need to tone these down for the ‘comfort of our members.’
Imagine my surprise when one of the older members of the Team looked me directly in the face, raised and began shaking her finger at me, saying “Myron, Sunday’s are not about you and me. They are about the visitors coming that do not know Jesus. You and I know Jesus and we are assured Heaven. Sunday is about doing whatever we can do to draw people to visit and introduce them to him. If some bright lights will help do that, then you can either accept them, put sunglasses on or sit farther back. It’s not about you and me. Sunday is about helping people find Jesus for themselves!” To which I looked at Ms. Marianne and apologized and forever looked at her with love, gratitude and marvel, during my remaining time on the Team.
Don’t you love disrupters? We serve the greatest Disrupter in the history of the World. His name is Jesus. A litmus test that I often challenge churches with is the question ‘If Jesus were to return to earth today, would he darken the doors of your church?’ And equally important to the individual ‘Would you hang out with the homeless guy speaking counter-cultural messages of hope, life, salvation, eternity?’
“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other!” Luke 12:49-51 NLT
Where did we come up with the notion that our churches are to be places of tradition, comfortable seating, controlled heat and air, ruled by fiduciary responsibility? How many homeless or underserved people do we drive by on our way to our place of worship, forgetting that Jesus would have been late or not attending the scheduled service as he invested in the lives of those that are now discounted or ignored? When did ‘radical’ leave our DNA? Where did the name “service” come from.
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 NLT
My point is this. What is the purpose of the local church? Country Club or Locker Room? A Country Club is a place where those in society who ‘have made it’ isolate themselves and discuss like-minded things while lavishing themselves with fine food, drink, pools, golf and so on. (Yes, you know it’s true. I have belonged to numerous Country Clubs through the years and love that God compels me to feel like a fish out of water when I attend one today. But alas, that’s just me!). A Locker Room is a location where the team (the church) prepares for the mission at hand. A place of purpose and intentionality. A place where comfort has no rest and preparation has no end.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”. Matthew 28:19 KJV
So my challenge to all of us who proclaim the name of Jesus is to use the facilities that God has entrusted to us to expand his Kingdom. Use them as places of preparation. As places of love, hope, rest, reclamation, purpose identifying, World disrupting vessels intent on Satan’s defeat by winning one lost soul at a time.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
My encouragement is this. Be courageous and step into the box (the local church) with the intent of contributing your time, talents, money, heart and love, oh so much love. Be glad when the walls and halls are dirty and scarred from so much activity and community-driven efforts that that maintenance team cannot keep up. Be empowered when the food pantry is so busy receiving that the givers are looking for additional people to give food and love. Be committed to serve with a group of broken people, galvanized by the most radical truth to ever invade this World, his name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Shock someone today by showing them an unsettling love that can only be found in the God who settled our eternity through his Son.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:12 ESV
You’ve got this.