I always like to see local churches doing good things. It's a little different than the way I used to do ministry. A decade ago, I thought about ways to make my ministry look better than the guys down the street. It was a competition that I wanted to win - more people, more money, and more ministry programs. Although I am still narcissistic (as are all senior pastors), I celebrate the good things I see in other churches. On Sunday, there was a big win down the street.
Neighborhood Church is our local Mennonite congregation. They have a big church on the northwest part of town and it's led by a good pastor who has a heart for the city. On Sunday, instead of preaching in their sanctuary, people abandoned their building and had church in the streets. Click here for the story.
One of my favorite quotes about the importance of the missional church comes from Eugene Peterson: The way of Jesus is always local and ordinary.
I was unsuccessfully trying to clean up my war-torn office last night when I
came across an old notebook. Every six months or so, I go through a 150 page
c...
2 comments:
While I am impressed with churches that get off their duff and do something to support their local community, I often ask myself “why?” What’s the point?
Most of the non-churched community sees churches as filled with hypocrites. They’re not particularly impressed with the way we live our lives. In fact, when invited to join our services they mostly respond with a blank stare that sarcastically suggests “why would I want to do that?” Like the farm animals in the story of the Little Red Hen, they are willing to “eat” the services provided by churches, but would never think to help by giving of their own time or money. And we, because we have low expectations of any group that “doesn’t know Christ,” accept their dismissal of us as a valid response and convince ourselves that we completely understand why they think so poorly of us. We continue to “plod along” trying to impress them with our good works, which brings me back to my point. Why?
I think the point to serving in our community is that it fulfills the Great Commandment to love God and love people. Sure, there are hypocrites who will serve to look pious. Also, many will do it out of obligation but there are also those who want to serve out of God's love for them.
If people don't want to serve and just want to "eat", great. My hope is that the more they eat, they will catch the grace that we teach and want to serve others - not to impress but to be Christ-like.
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