I couldn’t even tell you how many times I’ve been asked something like, “Before we go after more people, shouldn’t we take better care of who we have?”
I think it’s an honest question, but in my humble opinion, it is fed by the devil himself. I really mean that. At the least, it betrays a complete misunderstanding of what it means to be in the Body of Christ. Everything in the Bible about the church tells us that the church was put here to spread the Gospel to lost people––to be salt, light, and leaven to the world.
Those of us in the church are surrounded by others who love us and would drop just about everything to help us when they know of a need. The church is our family and we are blessed in a multitude of ways to be a part of this family. Why would we not want to promote it and share that blessing with others?
But when a family becomes self-absorbed, the blessings of unity, love and care, and especially mission, morph into a kind of disunified quest for personal wants, expectations and control. Churches without mission become hotbeds of political conflict. When we loose sight of our mission, we also lose our sense of purpose and the very thing we are unified around. Yes, we are united in Christ, but He brought us together to send us out with the Great Commission!
You know something else, we take care of one another best when we are focused together on reaching others! I learned this as a dad. Our best family times together involved loving and caring for others. The best way to care for one another is to motivate one another (Hebrews 10:24) to fulfill the mission of the church together.
Sometimes those in our midst fall through the cracks and do not get the care they are either expecting or sometimes should receive (just like in a biological family). We are people, and we don’t always find out about one another's needs, and sometimes neglect things we should not. But the reality is, those who come to church every week, get involved in ministry, and actively participate in a life group, rarely feel uncared for. Too often, the people who are quickest to be offended over the lack of care they receive, are dong the least to care for others. It’s like the old adage, “To make friends, be a friend.” Likewise: to receive care, be a caregiver.
So let me answer the opening question: “No.” We should not FIRST take care of our own before going after new people. We should all together reach out with the Gospel of Jesus and in doing so, find our social, emotional, and sometimes material needs met by our brothers and sisters, whom we are connected with in this grand mission given by Jesus himself.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
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What an extremely arrogant and mis informed statement this was. I found my jaw hitting the floor and have yet to recover it. So a family that becomes 'self absorbed' and basically 'needy' just needs to straighten up their act and fall in step with the mission to save more souls. How can they save more souls when their own is floundering? How can they be an effective 'care giver' when they are struggling to provide the basic care they need for themselves? Isn't that what a church is for?? I guess the ones that 'fall through the cracks' are best left to fall and be done with since they weren't involved in the great 'mission' of the church...Please do not misunderstand my position. We are to save as many souls as we can in the name of Christ. But it is the disgruntled needy souls that often times get the message wrong and in the long run turn people away from Christ, not to Him. A church that does not tend to and care for their own member's is a church that needs to take a long hard look at themselves. If they can not take care of the sheep within the fold, perhaps they have no business trying to acquire more.
ReplyDeletePraying for your congregation...
The first goal of a church should be to save lost souls. For your example the floundering soul should receive help from the church, for however long, and then be restored in order to join back in to the church's first goal of saving those who are lost. To use a sports analogy....the hurt church member is put on "IR" list until they are healed and can join back on the team to complete its mission.....to save souls
ReplyDeleteYou speak of the 'lost soul' as one among many. However, this church has/had many hurt lost souls that are not/were not tended to. This church does not need to acquire more souls.
ReplyDeleteJustindmind65,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you've seemed to have gone through some offense and have ongoing resentment that you feel comfortable to attack and criticize anonymously like this. I don't know if you are a professing follower of Jesus or not, but the mission that you referred to sarcastically is not one that any church came up with or that we have a right to alter. It's Jesus' mission (Matthew 28:19-20). It's what he told us to do. This entire blog was simply a reflection on what Jesus said we are to do. You may disagree with Jesus on it, but I'd be careful about that. He has every right to tell his church what he expects of us, and we have an obligation to follow him. Your whole argument contradicts Jesus' point in his analogy of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12).
Did you really read the blog? Your comments do not seem to reflect what was actually written. They just seem to be angry words looking for a target.
I'd be happy to dialog with you further on it, but that's hard to do if you stay in attack mode while hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. It's not easy to respect the opinion of someone who doesn't have the courage to sign their own name.
If you do decide to respond, I'd encourage you to first think through Ephesians 4:29-32 and let these principles guide your approach to disagreeing with another person, whether face to face, or in cyberspace.