What if your church disappeared?
Think with me for a minute. It’s October 19, 2009 — and suddenly your church (the people and the building) just disappear. No storm. No fanfare. No news coverage. No ‘missing persons’ reports.
Just gone. Vanished. Without a trace.
How would your community be different without the influence of your church? Here are some questions I’ve been pondering in recent days, regarding such an event:
- Would my community be a darker place due to the abence of light emanating from the lives of our members?
- Would more people be hungry . . . homeless . . . poorly clothed?
- Would community organizations miss the involvement of our people?
- Would far fewer people be subjected to the life-changing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
- Would people sense a loss of hope? A loss of spiritual healing? A loss of help during times of trial?
Or would most people go right on about their lives with no notice . . . no mention . . . no care about what happened to that church?
If the church is to be relevant to a lost and dying world, then these are questions that must be asked — and answered in a way that brings glory and honor to the name of the One who gives life . . .Jesus Christ himself.
What kind of questions are the driving force at your church? The questions we ask determine the answers we find.
Spend some time this week thinking this through . . . and take a moment to share your thoughts.
At a time when Churches are abandoning the Word and “blending in” instead of “standing out”, this is an AWESOME post!
Thanks!
The question this has brought to my mind is, “Would my neighborhood miss me?”
That is definitely a good question, Karan. My neighbors probably wouldn’t miss me yet. I can’t even get some of them to come to the door!
Wow. This is an incredibly thought provoking blog and has given me serious pause. The reality is churches ARE disappearing from neighborhoods and no one notices or cares because of the lack of impact being made on communities.
Kristine, thanks for your comment. I hear people say all the time that rather than impacting the world, many churches today seem to be being influenced BY the world. There are many churches that are doing some great work in evangelism, discipleship, and ministry. But the reality is that there’s MUCH room for improvement. And the sense of urgency, at least from my perspective, is critical. We must be diligent in carrying and demonstrating the unchanging message of the Gospel of Christ to all people . . . and for most churches, that’s going to require some measure of re-evaluation.
Garrick, I agree completely. I think that many in the church either feel “we have time” or “Jesus is almost here so we don’t have time to …”. Both are deadly.
I think that, as we leaders look at “intensity” we need to also factor in “crew rest”, as we said in the Navy. Both individually and as an organization, we can’t sustain high intensity without let-up. We have to ensure that we factor in Rest, Re-Grouping, and Re-training into our concepts of church operations. (I know, I sound like a military planner…I was one… )
We set ourselves, and the Church, up for problems when we don’t plan and execute a complete training and warfare strategy, including R&R and adapting to changes.
I think we should look at Hockey as a model. Very intense on the ice, but the players are rotated for maximum effectiveness!
JMHO, tho’….
Great post and discussion!
My first thought was: that’s just the BUILDING. The church is really the body. I agree that the “bodies” are having less and less impact. But, that made me think of the early church, meeting in homes, where there was no building. I think “our body” would have to START OVER to get another building…and that STARTING OVER would take us back to the basics…sharing the GOSPEL with our community.
You really hit a thought provoker here!!! Thanks!!!
Hey, John, if I can make YOU think, then I consider it an effective post.