“If your church vanished, would your community weep?”
1 Mar 2009
In my sermon in January that began our current series about being an Externally Focused Church I asked a question that I first heard at a seminar last November on this same topic. Pastor Rick Rusaw, of LifeBridge Church in Longmont, Colorado, was presenting to a number of NWCEA pastors on this topic and asked us this very penetrating and disturbing question: “If your church vanished, would your community weep?” Wow! That’s a powerful question to consider. I wonder what the answer would be for Gladstone Christian Church?
See, the difficulty about this question is that it’s a question those of us who belong to and attend GCC cannot answer, for the question isn’t addressed to us. The question is an externally focused question because it is being asked of those who do not attend, who do not value the church or who are neutral to all that God’s Church represents. And because of that it would be easy for we who are a part of the Body of Christ to dismiss the question as irrelevant to who we are, to not worry about what those outside our walls think. And dismiss it we could, if not for one very important truth: This is Jesus’ question of His people because this question is at the heart of why Christ established the Church, why He went to the cross, and what He hopes to accomplish through His earthly body of disciples.
You see, Jesus didn’t come to this world to establish the Companionship of the Cozy or the Fearful Faithful. No, He came to create a New Humanity, who through their faith in Him would be used by Him to bring others into this same saving fellowship. That is the definition of “Church” (see Ephesians 3:14-22 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
What this means for us, I believe, is that the Church must shift its focus from “Who can we invite to our programs to hear our message?” to “Who can we serve so that we can earn the opportunity to share our message?” If the community is no longer coming to us then we must come up with bigger and better gimmicks, gradually grow smaller, or go out into the world in the Name of Jesus. Which one do you think Jesus would have us do?
Since the first of the year I have been presenting a picture of the 1st century Church in Acts to give us a model for how to act like the Church in the 21st century. There are many ways for us to do this, such as getting involved as volunteers in our schools, participating in service projects in our community, helping with the foster parents dinner on May 5, being involved with Friends Club on Sunday night or our upcoming VBS August 3-7 (both of which minister to kids who do not attend this church), or any number of other creative ways to serve. All of these are excellent ways to be externally focused. Where is God sending you?
But one organized effort coming up on April 25 (a Saturday) holds great potential for demonstrating Christ’s love to those who are outside His Church. This will be the first Compassion North Clackamas event, held at Lot Whitcomb grade school in Milwaukie on SE Thompson Road. This all day event will be offering a variety of services to the needy of our area such as medical and dental exams, a wellness clinic, and introductions to various social services. We may not be able to offer professional assistance in these areas, but this event gives us the opportunity to volunteer as greeters, work in the childcare area, serve food, be an interpreter (Spanish, Russian or Asian languages needed), help with security, or be on the prayer team. If you can be a part of this multi-church effort for a half or full day please volunteer at www.compassionclackamas.org and fill out the online registration form. You’ll be glad you did.
You see, serving in Christ’s name to show compassion to those outside His Church is really just as simple as showing up! And I know anyone can do that. Then maybe as Jesus’ followers serve our community, we will know the answer to the question: “If your church vanished, would your community weep?”
