I don’t want to be part of a Church that gets stuck in a room. —Eric Johnson
Every so often, someone says something that sums up everything that’s been swirling around inside of me just looking for a place to land.
So, I was just listening to this sermon about a week ago, and just before the guy finished, out popped this one-liner, and suddenly I sat up and shouted to no one in particular, “Yes, that’s it!”
This Pastor had just summed up all of the restless frustration that I had been experiencing lately.
And, He had done it in one simple sentence.
A Church that’s stuck in a room.
That was exactly what I had been feeling every time I went to church for the last few months. I was feeling all this pent-up restlessness but not really understanding why.
For a long time, I had been day-dreaming about all kinds of ways to reach out to our little community. Not just with some sort of dry programmed evangelism, but with real hands-on love, actually getting to know folks, and then, hopefully finding creative ways to meet their needs.
I would sit down with a blank notebook and just daydream, about a surprise-blitz-Christmas-community-outreach, or a school carnival—you know, some really fun stuff that could reach out!
And not just for the sake of having fun, but with an underlying reason for putting on an event. Like raising money for the local homeless shelter. Or, putting on a school carnival as a way to collect school supplies and backpacks, so we could hand them out to kids when school started in the Fall.
I’m just so weary of sitting on my padded pew!
Nothing wrong with listening to good sermons, and yes, I get the intrinsic value in singing songs of praise to God, or great Bible studies so we can learn and grow as Christians.
I get it—I really I do.
But Jesus didn’t just STAY INSIDE a building with four walls, did He?
No, He went out-and-about where all the people were. He took the love of God, to them. He rubbed elbows with people, at their point of need.
Seems to me what He didn’t do—is stay stuck inside some building waiting for them to come to Him!
Jesus said,
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5:14 KJV
I want to be a Church that thinks the way He did.
I mean, isn’t that the point?
- Aren’t we supposed to model our lives after Him?
- Isn’t reaching out to the communities where we are living supposed to be only a starting point?
- Are we really supposed to gorge ourselves on Truth month in, month out, hoarding it in our hearts and keeping it for ourselves alone?
I don’t believe so.
There has to be more—there just has to be.
“Your lives are like salt among the people. But if you, like salt, become bland, how can your ‘saltiness’ be restored? Flavorless salt is good for nothing and will be thrown out and trampled on by others.
“Your lives light up the world. Let others see your light from a distance, for how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that the commendable things you do will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5: 13-16 The Passion Translation
Women With Destiny 