"You go to church, right? What's that like?"
Who hasn't fielded this question from a co-worker or friend?
When someone asks me about church, I normally reply by giving them
Wyandott's location, the time our Celebration starts, and a quick
endorsement of Brandon's singing or Andy's teaching. But does this
response really answer their question?
In the Gospel of Luke chapter ten, verses one through four, we
find Jesus in the middle of forming the church. He's on the eve of his
crucifixion and has even told his disciples that he's about to be
betrayed, but they don't understand him. You'd think that this would be
the part of the Bible where Jesus tells his followers how to conduct
church after he's gone. You know, the answers to important questions
like: How long should the service last? Do we take communion with wine
or grape juice? Which translation of the Bible do we use?
But if you read those verses in Luke, you'll see that Jesus
didn't waste any of the precious time he had left on earth talking about
a building or detailing the format of a Sunday morning service.
Instead, he turned the focus of his followers outward. He paired them
up, pointed them toward the surrounding towns, and said, "Go, tell them
about me." That's it.
So maybe the next time I get a church question, I should answer
by talking about my wife's missions trip to Mexico, my awesome Reset
group, the Friday morning men's breakfast, or Tim Anderson's latest
Outreach. Because those are the activities that define us as a
church-not where we gather on Sundays.
* Share your church story with someone this week and post the
results of your conversation to our blog. I dare you.
* Is your church story only about a building and an hour on Sunday
mornings? Step out of your comfort zone and tell me what happens next.
Don Bentley
2 comments:
This is a great "follow up blog" to the sermon on sunday. I found that when I shared more about what our church does, believes, and how God uses this community to reach my heart and reach out to others, I get WAY more questions from the person that asked me, "Where do you go to church?" than when I answered the place and time. Its like an on going conversation now instead of just a one time answer.
After hearing Rainey's talk Sunday, I was reminded about a comment by John Wesley. With Wesley's work among the "underclass" in England during the 1740's, many ministers resented and resisted Wesley's outreach activities into their dioceses. In a response to the bishop of Bristol, who told Wesley that he was not aloud to do ministry in Bristol, John Wesley replied, "the world is my parish". Wesley understood that he was NOT limited to a church/dioceses, but had a "commission to preach the Word of God to any part of the Church of England." Wow, I appreciate so much Wesley's larger perspective about the Church: it's beyond the four walls, it's in our neighborhood, it's with the underclass, it's worldwide!
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