Church Priorities, Church Future

For those who do not know me, I grew up Presbyterian USA. My wife, Sharon, grew up United Methodist. In God’s good humor, He brought us together to be husband and wife. Although we have very different experiences growing up, we are both very passionate about following Christ and furthering His Kingdom. Upon returning from a long ‘working vacation’ last week, Sharon showed me a newsletter from our church. She wasn’t happy with it, but wanted me to read it before talking with me about how she felt. I read it and, the more I contemplated what was written, the more uncomfortable I felt.

Here’s a quick background… The Syracuse United Methodist Church was founded over a hundred years ago and has been a significant part of Syracuse, NE, throughout the years. According to some articles that I looked up (the main one being here), the current building was dedicated in 1911. However, this was not the original building. But, on January 5th, 2014, a fire essentially destroyed the whole church. Since then, the congregation has been meeting at a different location in Syracuse.

It has been a long and difficult time since then for all involved. Many things have been discussed during that time. The members of the congregation have been going through a very wide range of emotions, especially of anger, fear of the future, loss, etc. My wife, who is on the one of the committees, has been keeping me up to date on what is going on with the church. I am definitely very thankful for this. We have both been very invested in this congregation for many years. I have been a substitute preacher there and taught an adult Sunday School class as my schedule has allowed. Sharon has been a youth group leader for several years and has helped out in many other ways.

Throughout the last few months, my wife and I have been sharing our perspectives on the church’s future. Our greatest concern has been what our focus is to be, and how we were going to live out Christ’s Great Commission. Although having a church building to gather together in is nice, Sharon and I both agree that it isn’t essential. What is more important is why we are gathering together and what our intentions towards the community is. But, more on this in a moment…

The newsletter had an insert alerting the reader to an upcoming church meeting next month. During the meeting, we will be discussing a potential future of the church. Part of it reads, “We are the CHURCH. We need a permanent home. We need to unite and work together to accomplish our goal ~ to see our new church rise from the ashes!!” After reading this article, a song came to mind (from here):

I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus,
all around the world!
Yes, we're the church together!

1. The church is not a building;
the church is not a steeple;
the church is not a resting place;
the church is a people.

A Bible passage also came to my mind, Jesus’ Great Commission to His Disciples. Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) says: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.” Here we have three commands. They are ‘to go,’ ‘make disciples,’ and ‘to baptize.’ The one that I am to focus on here, though, is ‘to make disciples.’

A ‘disciple’ is essentially someone who is learning from someone else. That is, a student learning from someone more experienced. In a nutshell, a disciple is someone who is being mentored by someone else. In the Christian context, a disciple is someone who is being educated about the Christian faith so that he or she can nurture and grow in their relationship with Christ. This is really an ongoing process that all Christians should be doing. When one becomes a believer in Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, that person has now been adopted by God and has become a disciple (or learner) of Christ. As a person grows in their relationship with Christ, he or she is expected by God to disciple or mentor others.

Years ago I bought a CD, “Promise Keeprs: A Life That Shows.” On it is an awesome song by Michael Card called, “Bearers of the Light.” To my astonishment, I could not find the lyrics listed on the Internet to share with you. But, in a nutshell, Michael Card writes that all people should have three types of Christian friends, a ‘Paul,’ a ‘Barnabas,’ and a ‘Timothy.’ The ‘Paul’ is a person of a more mature relationship in Christ that helps (and challenges) you to grow in yours. The ‘Barnabas’ is essentially a person who is of similar maturity that you walk with, mutually encourage each other, and share life experiences. That is, a ‘best friend’ in Christ. The ‘Timothy’ is someone of a less mature relationship with Christ that you mentor.

I very strongly believe that our primary purpose as the Body of Christ is to develop and train new believers/followers of Christ. This, as per the Great Commission, is to be our vision and goal. All other things are to be in support of this.

I have attended many different churches over the years in many different places. I have worshipped God during vesper services outdoors during a youth church camp, in a church in Europe dating to before we settle in America, to an outdoor Chapel service while deployed to Iraq. Some of these experiences left me feeling spiritually dry and unfulfilled. While others filled me with a sense of awe for Who God is and what He is doing in the lives of others. But, over all, these experiences have helped me to learn that it’s not ‘where’ one worships, but how one worships. That is, the type of building and location is not the important part. What is most important is the how we worship God. And, I firmly believe, that part of how we worship God in our day-to-day lives is how we live out the Great Commission. In following Christ’s charge (as quoted above), we are enlarging and strengthening the Body of Christ for future generations. Is this a priority for you?