Posted by - Do things for your community not yourself.
I remember very little from church business meetings I have attended over the years. The church had monthly business meetings on Sunday nights. They were the worst. Sitting there as a teenager bored out of my mind. Even after becoming a pastor most of them aren’t noteworthy in any way. It’s just average stuff no one remembers in a couple of weeks. I did have one though early on in my ministry that stuck out to me, and I still remember it almost 20 years later. I was serving as the youth minister and associate pastor in this particular church. I loved the church and God was blessing the youth ministry tremendously. God taught me so much in my time there.
The discussion in the meeting was a pretty typical mix of financial reports and committee reports, and then a hand went up. I will change the name of the individual in the story just to be nice. I don’t want to embarrass any of her relatives in case they ever read this. The lady, we will call her Ann, had a question about something that was announced about our upcoming vacation Bible school. We were a rural church that on a good Sunday had 175 people. That was a pretty large church for the area. We did our VBS at night during one week of the summer. It was a pretty typical VBS. We had games, crafts, music, Bible stories, and all the Kool-Aid and cookies a kid in rural Alabama could want. I did complain when we got the generic Oreos instead of the real thing. I mean come on we can get the good Oreos one time.
Ann was concerned because it was announced we would be having the churches annual fish fry on the Friday night that was also scheduled to be our family night for VBS. VBS that year was an underwater theme, and the pastor, Brother Bobby as we called him, wanted to have the fish fry and invite all the families of the children that came to VBS to attend the fish fry as our guests. He had people designated as greeters, and our deacons and their wives were to scatter out amongst the tables to make small talk and get to know the guests we would have. His goal was to do something nice for these families and invite any of them not regularly attending church to come worship with us. I loved the idea, but Ann not so much. I remember the tone of her voice and can still see her sitting in “her pew” when she asked the Bro. Bobby, “are we going to let those people eat our fish?” What happened after this was a ridiculous back and forth about who the fish fry should be for. The discussion finally ended when the Bro. Bobby put his foot down and told those questioning the decision that the fish fry would be for everyone.
A church should be constantly looking for how it can reach out to the community it has been placed in. A church with an inward focus will not reach new people. We need to leverage every opportunity to bring people into the life of the church. A fish fry is a simple way to say to someone that isn’t connected with your church that you care about them, and want to do something nice for them. Reaching out to your community doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple Easter egg hunt, a block party, a youth sports league, and I could go on and on. The community needs to know the church exists and cares about them. A church should be intentional about showing guests and the community that they are loved and wanted. Be willing to change what you are doing.
2. Be Willing to Change what you are doing.
This goes back to something I am constantly telling church members. You don’t change the message, but the methods have to change constantly. We all get really comfortable doing the same things over and over. It becomes routine, and routine puts us at ease. We know what to expect, and that is comfortable. The problem is that continuing to do the same thing if it isn’t working will only dig a church into a deeper and deeper hole. Every leader has to step back and take an honest look at what they are doing. That can be challenging and very uncomfortable for a church. A church that is growing is constantly trying to figure out what to do next and how to do it better. There is a constant flow of change happening within a growing church. I was talking to someone a few weeks ago about something we were doing. They thought it was great, and it was working well. I warned them that it was working well now, but in five years we may not be doing that anymore. The fast paced change that is happening in the world around us has now come to the church, and it means we have to constantly be updating our methods. A church frozen in time unwilling to change its methods is a church that does not have an outward focus. This includes changes to music, Sunday School, church times, programs, dress, and even room layout. They are concerned about what they want not what their community needs. I know that sounds harsh, but there is no more time for sugar coating the truth. Churches are losing their influence in the community and closing their doors at an ever increasing rate, and that doesn’t have to be the case.
This goes back to something I am constantly telling church members. You don’t change the message, but the methods have to change constantly. We all get really comfortable doing the same things over and over. It becomes routine, and routine puts us at ease. We know what to expect, and that is comfortable. The problem is that continuing to do the same thing if it isn’t working will only dig a church into a deeper and deeper hole. Every leader has to step back and take an honest look at what they are doing. That can be challenging and very uncomfortable for a church. A church that is growing is constantly trying to figure out what to do next and how to do it better. There is a constant flow of change happening within a growing church. I was talking to someone a few weeks ago about something we were doing. They thought it was great, and it was working well. I warned them that it was working well now, but in five years we may not be doing that anymore. The fast paced change that is happening in the world around us has now come to the church, and it means we have to constantly be updating our methods. A church frozen in time unwilling to change its methods is a church that does not have an outward focus. This includes changes to music, Sunday School, church times, programs, dress, and even room layout. They are concerned about what they want not what their community needs. I know that sounds harsh, but there is no more time for sugar coating the truth. Churches are losing their influence in the community and closing their doors at an ever increasing rate, and that doesn’t have to be the case.
3. Set aside your judgmental spirit.
When people come into a church they bring all their baggage with them. Some people’s baggage is a little more easy to see than others, but we are all carrying it. A church with an outward focus isn’t concerned with this baggage. They understand that people come from all different kinds of backgrounds, and that they are all loved by the Lord.
A church with an outward focus is also removing every obstacle they can that hinders people from coming in the church. Style of dress is a major one of these obstacles. I have invited many people to church over the years that tell me they can’t come because they have nothing to wear. They are in the Sunday best mindset. That idea is that we need to have the dresses and jackets on to go into the church. I don’t care if people put on their “Sunday best” and come to church, but when the perceived dress code for the church causes people to not come or feel uncomfortable when they do come then there is a problem. I still know churches that will ask people to not wear something if they come back to the church, and I can guarantee it won’t be a problem because they aren’t coming back. We have to set aside caring what people are wearing as long as its modest.
They are also going to come in with past mistakes, and you may know about it. This is especially a problem in smaller towns. Everyone knows everyone else, and they think they know everything that they have ever done. I grew up in a town exactly like this. One mistake followed you through that town for the rest of your life. Here’s something to think about. Jesus spent much of His time with the people that society had cast out. Those that were deemed sinners. Those were the people Christ was drawn to, and they were drawn to Him. Just as Christ is willing to let go of people’s past we have to willing to stop judging them and let go as well. If a church is going to be outwardly focused people can’t be judged when they walk in the door.
4. Have Real Joy
A church with an outward focus is going to be full of people that are truly glad to be there and are glad to see everyone that comes in the church’s doors. People that aren’t regular attenders can instantly sense the mood of the room when they walk in the church. They should sense and see people that are happy to be there. They should see laughter, smiles, people chatting, and a general feeling of anticipation when they come to a worship service.
We as followers of Christ have something to be joyful about. An outwardly focused church is going to be excited about what is going on inside the church. This is going to lead those inside the church to want to bring others so they too can see what is happening. Joy is contagious. Joy within the church will spill outside the church. The truth is we have something to be joyful about. We serve a risen Savior. He has brought forgiveness in for our sins and given us eternal life. That should shine through us.
5. See People as Christ Sees Them
An outwardly focused church look at people as Christ does. You see Christ doesn’t just see a bunch of rebellious sinners. He sees us for not only who we are but who we can be. I love this idea. When God looks at us he sees the creature made in His image that He was willing to die for. He sees the inherent value of human life. We have to view people in the same way. We can’t just see the homeless man. We need to see the man Christ died for. People may come in our doors or to our events and they will look, talk, dress, and act very different from the “church crowd”, and none of it matters. They are a person made in the image of God. When we get that through our heads it makes us focus outwardly because that is where these people made in God’s image are at. We should be viewing who people can be when they find Christ. We should be asking ourselves what could He do with this person He loves so much.
If a church is going to grow and fulfill its mission it can’t have an inward focus. It has to actively seek the people outside the church. A healthy church is a church with an outward focus. Be the person in your church that sets the tone for what that means. Fulfill the mission of the Gospel.
A Christian in the World 