The IN church

 

Luke 16:19-31

Recently, I watched a presentation by Reverend Candace Lewis. She shared something at the Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection I've been reflecting on since. It's taken a while, but one lesson has come across enough in local church ministry that it's easier to talk about. More of us can now distinguish between ministry to someone and ministry with someone. To someone is a service. Now, it may be a necessary and beneficial service. To someone can quickly meet needs and provide relief. Our perspective changes, though, when with replaces to. With someone ensures dignity and compassion. It also nurtures relationships and fosters greater community. It's also a reminder we're all in this world with each other, with God. Dr. Lewis presented a third option. She asked listeners if their churches were simply "in" their neighborhood or community. To-someone ministry is helpful. With-someone ministry is relational. Simply in isn't much of ministry at all. It's isolated. In fact, in churches often prefer their isolation. It keeps strangers, maybe some of "those" people, away. Being a church in a community allows for things to stay the way they've been. That's a silly notion, by the way. As a local congregation continues to deteriorate, how can we say things are the same? A church that has lost most of its people and resources cannot be the same that it was before. I'm grateful the churches I've served have never been merely "in" their neighborhoods. Sometimes, the needle wanted to bend that way. Thankfully, God's Spirit moved us in a different direction. In churches remind me of the rich man in Jesus' parable. He lived in the same place as Lazarus. But they lived completely different lives. In the parable, the man learns of a chasm between he and Lazarus in the afterlife. But there was already a dividing line that kept them separated in their life together. The rich man, probably, was okay just being in around Lazarus. It didn't require much of anything from him.  Imagine what might have been different if he was with him. What would've been difference for Lazarus? For the rich man? For his family? Now imagine how God would bless your church as you seek to be more with one another. Stay blessed...john