It is one of the go to questions at every missions presentation I go to these days. “If your church was gone tomorrow, would anyone miss it?†Underlying this question are two false assumptions.
First, it assumes that the church’s only value is a value it can offer to those outside of the church. It dismisses the value the church has to those who are inside the ark already. It assumes that the only thing the Church can do is convert unbelievers. It forgets its value in feeding and nourishing the found. And that value is inestimable. We must stop acting as if the church’s work of feeding the flock already gathered is useless or dismissible. Jesus was easily as concerned that this happened well as he was that those outside the flock would be reached. It is not problematic if a church has inward focus. It must. It is only problematic if that is done at the expense of looking outward. I understand that what the church does for those already gathered and those who were once gathered and have since wandered may not as easily and quickly be noticed by our communities. But the Lord assures us that “by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.†(John 13:35)
Secondly, it assumes that only the acts of Christianity that are remarkable in the world’s eyes are valuable to God. The truth is that most of the good works done in Christ’s name are unremarkable. This is because the prime way we offer ourselves to Christ is simply by faithfully living in the places God has placed us. Serving our neighbors often in little and not big ways. Serving in ways that are never mentioned in the bulletin, let alone the newspaper.
“If your church was gone tomorrow, would anyone miss it?†Of any church let me answer, “I am sure that those that are fed in Word and Supper by Jesus would miss it greatly.†And as to whether the community would notice if the church was gone? Maybe not right away. Maybe they might never identify the church’s absence as problematic. They might never notice what is missing. But something would be missing. The presence of Christ and his people effect everything in mostly unremarkable ways.
Please do not get me wrong. If our people are not serving their neighbors in deeds and with the proclamation of the Christ, it is utterly sinful. Such action must be rebuked and it must be met with the forgiveness and resurrection power of Jesus. If the church believes it only exists to serve its own needs, it is dead. It needs to be raised.
But when the Church lives out the life of Christ in faithful ways, it is usually much less noticeable than what many are insisting by the question noted above. But it is no less powerful or important.
"To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened." (Luke 13:20-21)
Excellent and thoughtful post, Phil. You’re right: we can never neglect the care and feeding of the flock. In fact, the care and feeding of the flock will lead to a church that is seen as beneficial and a blessing to the community. Preach it!
Phil –
My question concerning your article is what is the basis for your two assumptions that you feel are false concerning this question? And I ask this because for the past 2 1/2 years this has been a very prominent question we have wrestled within our church. And these two assumptions you present don’t reflect our motivation and basis for asking the question. Our guiding principle for this question is Jesus teaching on being salt/light. So we ask simply are we salt/light in our homes, community, and world? We believe we would be missed in not only the lives of our church members but also in our community and world because we have an intentional desire to be salt/light.
As we have discussed this question we really don’t look for how we can be “remarkable” but we ask more the question of how can we in our own way serve our community and world. And we believe that if we were to shut our doors, we would be missed because that intentional service and commitment to our community and world would be missed.
Let me give you an example. I defintely wouldn’t classify this as remarkable, but twice a month we let our community homeschooling association use our facility rent free. This was a big deal for them because they had a difficult time finding a place large enough that would let them use the place for free. Now I don’t consider this remarkable or attention getting but it does make a huge difference for those mom’s who come. And I would say if we closed our doors then we would be missed.
For us this question doesn’t have to be asked with negative assumptions. It can be asked with positive intention to direct our service not only to our members (which is a big priority), but also our community and world.
Dave-
The first assumption was stated explicitly at the sectional I went to. And I have heard it many times before. The phrase “inward” is used nearly as a curse word. They said every group and meeting must be intentionally outward focused.
And again, all of the things suggested to do affirmed the second assumption. They have to be something the whole community will immediately notice or it does not count.
I agree that we should be out in our communities, but I also think we already are. Our vocations calls us there everyday. And sometimes I think when we organizing a big event to reach our community we are teaching our people that they are not already doing that. Jesus says that we are salt and light, not that we should be. I think we do this work everywhere we go. I think if we do events they should be mostly more the sake of modeling what service looks like so that people do it more where they already are.
We can almost become like the Roman Church of Luther’s day. They said to be a really good Christian you had to become a monk. We say you have to come to the servant event and go on the mission trip. I think our efforts are best spent directing people to live out their faith in the place where God has already placed them rather than creating new sacred spaces where they can serve. Does that make sense?
That said, when we have an opportunity to help any neighbor, go ahead. That is where I see you offering your building. I think as we live in the places we are, the opportunities to serve abound.
It is great if you community thinks well of you. But living faithfully does not assure that. As Jesus says right before, “Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I just do not think it is a proper question to judge our church’s health. Look forward to hearing more from you.
thanks for following up with me on that Phil. I was really curious about where those two assumptions come from, since they are so different from my own. There is so much tension between the “inward” and “outward” debate. It is odd to me that we can so easily say it is both “bread and wine” and “body and blood” but elsewhere we make these “either/or” arguments.
I agree with your statement that we “are already out in the community”. However, I think you would agree with this, is that we have to teach and model not only servanthood in our community but also being intentional to connect with the unchurched in our community. I take my own life for example, if I don’t intentionally seek out meeting new people and developing new relationships with folks who are unchurched it won’t happen. There is so much church work to do that I would stay constantly busy and never be intentionally engaged within the community.
Which goes back to your original question…”would anyone miss our church”. By asking this question it forces me to examine the intentional nature of our ministry.
Yes there is Jesus statement about persecution which is always present, but there is also these words…16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Don’t make vocation an either/or with “servant events” and “mission trips” they are not mutually exclusive. We shouldn’t package it like you say well if you want to be a really good Christian then you need to “go on a mission trip” or engage in a “servant event”. Our vocations can work very nicely in tandem with these opportunities to broaden and deepen our faith. For example – if my vocation has me working in high-rise office at a local bank, I might never find myself in a position to work directly with the poor or homeless. But what if my church provides a weekly ministry to the local homeless shelter? This now gives me an opportunity to expand my ability to show compassion and care for the least of these. Don’t make it an either/or let them work together to compliment each other.
As far as “outreach events” go the question always becomes why? What is the purpose? We do four to six outreach events primarily to introduce the community to our church. Our church has been in Gardendale for 30 years and probably 7 out of 10 don’t even know we exist. My goal is that when they hear the name Good Shepherd Lutheran Church they stop asking “is that a cult” or worse “is that Christian” but rather go oh yea “that’s the church that supports our community and shares the Gospel.”