Jesus wouldn't have said things like “take your light out from underneath that basket and let it shine” or “move into all the world and make disciples” if he was content with a church plan of maintenance or gradual decline. God wants our churches growing and alive.
That quote from Andrew Allison, minister at St. Paul's, Leaskdale, Ont., this month is about as succinct a comment on church growth (and decline) as you'll find.
Over the past several months, we've published a steady stream of articles focusing one way or another on creating healthy growing churches. All of them make excellent points about building and maintaining faithful communities. But it would be a mistake to read them as simple recipes for success.
As John-Peter Smit says in his article this month, the danger is the “'if-only-we-had-the-right-something” conversation. 'If only we had the right minister or the right location or the right musician or the right worship style or the right theology then everything would be right.' This is a dangerous road to travel: It seeks simplistic solutions to complex issues.”
That doesn't mean there aren't some basics that are found in every engaging church community. The real challenge is that most of those basics fall within the responsibility of each and every one of us as members of a community of faith.
In many ways the most difficult, yet most important thing is that we have to be open and vulnerable to receiving God's love. It's not easy. The whole history of God's interaction with humans as evidenced in the Bible could be boiled down to God trying to get us to understand that He loves us.
Ultimately, that was the whole purpose of Jesus' ministry. I think we sometimes hear “God so loved the world …” as impersonal. The world. Everyone. But it really means, God so loved me and God so loved you and God so loved our neighbour.
During Lent Christians traditionally think about repentance. But saying sorry to someone you fear is different than saying sorry to someone you love – and who loves you. If God were only to be feared, we'd say sorry to avoid punishment.
Saying sorry to a God who loves us is about opening ourselves up to experience all the good that God wants for us and being open to see the need for change.
Filled with the Spirit of love, we don't have to “try” to be friendly to people at church, whether newcomers or stalwarts. We “are” friendly because we want to share God's love.
“We are not primarily in the business of building the Presbyterian Church; we are sharing what Jesus has done in our own lives,” says Smit. “If we have no story to tell, if Jesus has not changed our lives, then it is next to impossible for him to change the lives of others through us.”
And the congregation at St. Paul's, Leaskdale, is proof that it can be done. Here's what Marion Schaffer had to say after attending morning worship at St. Paul's. “What I experienced included a relevant openhearted message and the sharing of personal journeys of faith from many who were present all wrapped up in an atmosphere of welcoming acceptance.”
Great expectations, however, imply change. Growth implies change. And, as our cover says: Growing Pains. It's best read as describing an action: growing hurts, growing causes pain. Not bad pain, but the pain of maturing from childhood into adulthood.
And as every parent (and child) knows, that pain is only bearable when it is experienced in an atmosphere of unconditional love. Otherwise, it is the dreadful pain of fear.
As recent research has shown, when we are motivated by fear, we focus on just one thing: escape. But we lose our perspective. We cannot see other options. We just head for what we hope is the light at the end of the tunnel. And if we are wrong…
If, on the other hand, we are motivated by love and open to change, there is no wrong choice.
