There is a great challenge for any church that wants to make a difference in their community. Do you do as much as possible or do you do only a few (or one) thing? And which things should you do? Let me give you a little LifePoint context.
We are currently doing a series called Heroes where we are trying to discuss why, what and how of being a hero right where we live. This involves our neighborhood, city, country and the even the planet as a whole. Here is an over simplified idea of three areas that we are passionate about because God is as well.
- God’s Obsession: All People
- God’s Command: His Values
- God’s Creation: The Environment
In this series we are trying to challenge ourselves individually to make a difference. In this process we are also discussing what our church ought to do as whole. This, of course, brings up many questions.
Can one small church lead a community to change in all of these areas? Is it better for these things to be church planned or individually encouraged? If we try and do everything, do we actually do anything? How do we pick just one area and not feel guilty about the areas that God obviously cares about that we have decided to not get involved in? As Craig Groeschel puts it, is it “AND” or “OR”?
These are some of the mind battles I have been currently sparring with and if I come to any conclusions I will be sure to share them here. Till then, what are your thoughts?
I think one small church can lead a community to change in all these areas. But while the church is doing the leading, the community (the people in the church as well as the people in the community in general) has a responsibility too.
If the church tries to do everything itself, then I doubt that much of anything will be accomplished. I think LifePoint’s responsibility is to explain why these areas are important to God and should be important to us, to encourage people to go out and make a real difference in the world, and to lead the way by doing things that will make a difference as a church. I think it’s necessary, although not easy, to pick an area for our church to get involved in order to “practice what we preach,� make a difference, and lead the way by example.
But other things need to be individually encouraged. No one person can do it all, and no one church or other organization can do it all either. I know I keep mentioning this, but it brings me back to what Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.� You might feel bad that you can’t personally feed the other 99, and you can see that they need help too, but one person/organization can only do so much; at some point you have to feed the people you CAN feed and encourage other people to do what they can to feed the ones you can’t. Picking an area doesn’t mean that we don’t care about the other areas, and it doesn’t mean we can’t make it clear that change needs to be made in those other areas. It means that, as a church, we figure out what our burden is and we put everything we can into making a difference in that area while encouraging others to discover their burdens and do something about it. If every person would work toward making a change in the area of their burden, each individual thing might look small at first, but the overall change & impact will be huge.
I think one of the best ways for the church to meet many needs is by being a facilitator in areas where they aren’t necessarily focusing. So many times, people want to help, but they aren’t sure how to start or where to begin. I might not go to the local food bank to give of my time on my own, but if there is an organized mission I can sign up for, there I am!
Different people are passionate about different needs in the world, they are blessed by God with a burden to help. If a church can find a way to point those people, their own passion will take over from there. All they need is a starting point. It can be something as simple as identifying a need, and putting individuals in touch with a way to help.
A church can’t fix everything, but THE church, the body of Christ CAN.