As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am currently reading Mike Erre’s book, Death by Church. As I was reading a chapter this morning I came across a paragraph that I wanted to share with you. He writes,
“Getting people to church can no longer be the end game of ministry. Within a kingdom perspective, the church witnesses to the work of God in the world, pointing it out, celebrating it, nurturing faith, and reminding each other of God’s grace and truth. The goal isn’t to get people to church and think that once that is done, everything else will take care of itself. Church gatherings are instead the inevitable (and joyful) result of people joining with others who are living under God’s reign, pursuing Him and His purposes for them in the world. Instead of getting people more inolved in the church and her programs, we should instead teach and equip disciples to prayerfully discern where God is moving in the rest of their lives and empower them to cooperate in that work.”
Like most of my fellow ministers reading this blog, I am ministering to a church that has multiple programs and ministries. We enjoy it when large numbers of our people are involved in those programs. Erre’s words are tough to swallow, but I like where he is going.
What are your thoughts?
It seems that as a congregation becomes larger or maybe just more established, there are legitimate things that need to be done to take care of the needs of the body. The apostles dealt with it, and had the good sense to appoint people to take care of it. The programs themselves aren’t wrong, only our tendency to equate those with our spiritual service. When we create a benevolence program, it threatens to remove our personal responsibility to feed the hungry. When we have a visitation program, it is easy to shirk our responsibility to look out for the needs of those who are in need. The key, and you and I have bemoaned this for years, is that the ministers and deacons should be equippers rather than service providers.
I agree with that excerpt 100%! The body must be healthy, or at least be healthy enough to function in a way that people know it is the bride of Christ, not a well-oiled machine in which we just “do church good” inside the walls. Programs are good and important, but not the end purpose. Studying is good and important, but not the end purpose. Even fellowship is good and important, but not the end purpose.
What is the end purpose of the church? To worship God! Everything else (even baptizing and making disciples) is a means to that end. Unfortunately, worship has been narrowed mostly into a corporate worship only, and everything that is done in God’s name outside the walls is service. I disagree! Any act of service for the purpose of showing God’s light in a dark world is an act of worship. Even doing your homework or disciplining a child or making dinner can be an act of worship when we give thanks to God for the responsibility and opportunity to use his earth, the minds he gave us, and the hearts that are changed because of Him. I would rather see a church have small group devotions and work in the community throughout the week than one perfect worship service on Sunday morning. That is a sharp contrast to the silly phrase “He is doing the work of the Lord” in reference ONLY to someone entering ministry or bible teaching or church leadership or mission work. Corporate worship and “service” are necessary, benefecial, and commanded. Why is one elevated above the other? Soooo many reasons, but in the CofC, I’d say it is mostly because of our intense focus on the modes of the early church and Paul’s exhortations (and misapplications of such) than our focus on the life of Chirst, and that we are all called to be apprentices of Christ, following in his footsteps.