Many churches mark their progress by how much they have grown from year to year. Are weekly offering totals increasing? Has worship attendance grown from one year to the next? Is our membership showing growth?
Last Sunday I led a Bible class on a study of the "Last Words of Jesus," as found in the 4 Gospels and Acts. We focused on the Matthew text, 28:16-20, and noted that Jesus gave the command to "go!" Go and make disciples by baptizing and teaching.
So I asked the question, "Is your church a "going" church? Is your church going out into your community, showing and sharing the love of Jesus? What are you doing to attract the community to your church, via VBS, Trunk or Treat, special concerts or services and the like? Are you teaching your members to know how to invite family or friends to visit the church on a Sunday.
It seems to me that all those things that we consider growth items, i.e. offerings, attendance, membership, will take care of themselves when the church focuses on "going!"
Rev. Dr. Scott Murray gives an example of what I believe is a "going" church. He writes in "A Lutheran Perspective of Worker Wellness:" During Hurricane Harvey, which causes so much damage in Houston in 2017, I was on the West Coast. I didn't arrive back in Houston for another week after its landfall. While I was gone the people of my parish prepared and served over 1500 meals for those who were stranded, flooded out of their homes, or first responders. I didn't do a single thing to organize this. This is just what biblically trained Christians do when there is a need.
In one of my congregations a member took issue with me when I said that Word and sacrament ministry was the main focus of the church. He couldn't see that when we place the emphasis where it needs to be, people, motivated by the love of Jesus, will find ways to live out the gift of faith they've been given by going and making disciples by baptizing and teaching. Pray that your church will focus on going and not just growing. The one will take care of the other.
