A Going Place

The Church is a going place. That's a thought I had this morning that I would like to pursue a bit with you. As a local group of believers, we are going somewhere. Even if the battlecry of some is "we're going to always be just what we are now", there is a still a goingness to that chosen identity. Even if we say that nothing will change, individuals change and thus groups (church) change. And some people want to trumpet how much they are changing and how far they are going. Sometimes they're not going where they think they are. But in all, the church is a going place. Where are you going? It's easier for me to ask you than for me to address that question for myself. But I must. Where is my church going? Churches work hard on mission and vision statements. Unless an intentional effort is made, these statments are lost in the cobwebs of good intentions and seldom really redirect the church into a new path. What do you look at to determine where a church is going? One approach is to look at averages. Average attendance. Average contribution. Average conversions. Average transfers. Numbers, numbers, and numbers make me numb-er. Is our message that our church is going toward bigness? Supersize us please. I'm not a big critic of this, for each number does represent a person. But you know how these persons are replaced by the numbers over time. Panic sets in if the numbers crumble. In a book I read recently a piercing question took center stage: If your church disappeared tomorrow, would your community care? Jesus was not a synagogue homebody. When he arrived on the scene, people cared. While he was there, people marveled. When he left, people wondered where he went. So should it be with our churches. A church of ten people who are feeding a hungry family is more the church of Christ than a church of a 1,000 attenders from a regional area who mostly care how the praise team sounded this morning. Two extremes, for sure. It's a bit of an unfair statement ... but it is re-directing us away from our ledgers and toward people. So who would care if my church disappeared (aside from the members)? It's not an easy question to answer, but I do think I know some people. How many? Not enough. Really a good guage for being a church of Christ has less to do with conformity to our traditional heritage and more to do with our love for the weak and defenseless. The church is a going place. Going into the marketplace. Going to those who need us. Going with water, and with water that will quench eternal spiritual thirst. A going place, though, needs going people. Going people need going leaders. More later.