Mainsville United Brethren in Christ

Growing . . . Together

Vision

Where there is no vision, the people perish.  What is the vision here at Mainsville?  Why do we bother opening the doors every Sunday?  What is the purpose of us being here rather than going to another church? 

In How to Find Your Church George Barna has this to say about vision.  “Vision is the ability to understand the history, the present condition, and the potential of the church, and to conceive a plan for action that will maximize the ministry potential. More often than not, vision is a result of having spent much time absorbing the facts about the community, knowing the resources upon which the church can call (people, funding, facilities, equipment, etc.), and devising sound but creative strategies for moving forward. Vision always entails progress: it is never satisfied with the status quo.”

I will start with the end of this statement and work backwards.  Vision is never satisfied with the status quo.  It is far too easy for Christians to get stuck in a holding pattern and seek to remain the same.  As long as there are no major problems with the church, most Christians are happy to keep things as they are.  A building project would require more money and personal sacrifice.  Outreaches might bring people into the church that don’t fit our concept of what Christians look like.  New members would upset the long established social groups within the church.  Doing anything different in a worship service would leave members uncomfortable and unsure of what is happening next in the program.

Change is a bad word in most churches.  Change requires sacrifice.  Change means that people are not going to always be comfortable with the way things are.  Change should not be about following the latest leadership fad or about changing the aesthetics of a room or even sanctuary.  Change should be done because at times change is necessary.

Churches fall into one of three categories; growing churches, churches that are staying the same, and churches that are declining.  As a church we must decide where we are at and where we want to be.  If we are a stagnant or declining church and want to become a growing church, we will not become one by remaining the same.  Changes must be made.

At the start of the 1900’s the railroad industry was controlled by the wealthiest and most powerful people in the United States.  With the advent of the automobile the railroad industry continued as is.  The railroads thought that they were in the train business and that automobiles were not their business.  Instead, the railroads were in the transportation business and the automobiles were something they needed to adapt to because they were competition.  Today, the railroads are government subsidized and barely survive while the automobile market is a thriving worldwide industry.

The church likewise needs to open its eyes.  We believe that we are in the “church” industry.  We are not.  We are in the industry of changing lives.  We are in the industry of saving souls.  Plodding along, playing church will not accomplish our goal of seeing the lost come to Christ.  It will not change lives.  Today we face more competition.  People who would at one time seek out Christianity as the solution to their problems now turn to New Age spiritualism.  People are turning to self help groups, Dear Abby, and Oprah to have their problems solved.  The church is no longer seen as relevant and people are not going to come through our doors just because they are open.

We do not need to change the gospel.  The gospel cannot be changed.  It should not be watered down for easy-believism because doing so doesn’t not create mature Christians.  It only builds superficial numbers and at best adds to the church collection plate.  The need for the gospel is what we need to repackage and resell.

I came to church because my parents went to church.  They went to church because their parents went to church.  You probably came to church because you’re parents went to church.  This is the way the church has operating for literally hundreds of years.  Today we face the problem that most of my generation and certainly the ones after me will not go to church simply because their parents do go to church. 

Teenagers are looking at their parents and seeing that church has made no difference in their lives.  Teenagers will not come to church because they find it irrelevant.  If church was transforming their parents lives, or their friends parents, teenagers would come.  But instead as soon as they are old enough to make they decision they will not waste time on a church that does not make a difference in their life.  We must show a lost and dying world that Jesus is very relevant to the 21^st century.  The gospel is relevant to the 21^st century.  To do so, we have to rethink how we promote the gospel and everything that we call “church.”

The Kodak company has been the name in cameras and film for several decades.  They have been the leader in their industry for a long time.  They also are able to have a vision for the future.  Just this month, they made a painful decision to cut nearly 25% of their jobs.  The reason?  Film cameras are on the way out.  Digital technology has firmly taken hold of the industry that Kodak has dominated.  2003 was the first year which more digital cameras were sold than film cameras.  Kodak has seen that the future is heading to digital cameras and has made the decision that they will phase out their film cameras over the next few years.  Kodak could easily have clung to what they did so well and could have picked some customers from other camera makers as they converted to digital technology.  But ultimately, they would only be left with holdouts from the age of film.  By that time, when they would have to convert to the latest technology or fold, they would be so far behind the other companies that they would not recover lost ground.  They would no longer be the industry leader.  But because they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices today, Kodak will likely be an industry leader in digital cameras as well as they were in film.

I fear that the church has not been willing to make the necessary changes that Kodak made.  For so long, we have believed that as long as the church doors were open we people would enter our sanctuary.  This may have been true when a majority of people went to church and it was the thing to do on Sunday.  This may have been true when blue collar laws were in effect and stores were closed on Sunday.  People today will not simply walk into church because it is the thing to do on Sunday any longer.

Rethinking our Vision

I mentioned that we are not in the church business.  Instead, they are actually for things that make up church.  There are four things that should be every church’s goal.  However, the church as a building is not needed for any of them.  All we need is a gathering of believers to accomplish what the church must do. 

The book of Acts is all about the church.  If you want a picture of what the church is supposed to be doing, you need to read the book of Acts.  Acts 2 details the work of the young church.  There was no Sunday school, nor Women’s Missionary Fellowship, nor prayer meetings.  This is the church as it began.  Starting in vs 42 it says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

There are four things that the early church does here.  And it breaks down into a nice acrostic.  If you were here when I spoke in May, you might remember it.  It spells WIFE.

W- Worship.  The believers met together and broke bread together.  They celebrated the Lord’s supper together as a body.  They also sacrificed their possessions so that they could meet the needs of others.  As Jesus said that what you do for others, you do for him, this is an offering.  Elsewhere in Acts, the group is mentioned to be singing in worship.

I- Instruction.  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.  When the believers came together there was always instruction for them. 

F- Fellowship.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

E- Evangelism.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Each and every church needs to look at themselves and evaluate how they are doing based on these four things; worship, instruction, fellowship, and evangelism. 

Is worship heart felt or are we singing songs because churches sing songs?  Are there acts of service being done for one another for the glory of God?  Do we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing unto the Lord?

Is our instruction directly from the Word of God or are being told what our itching ears want to be told?  Every once in a while, our toes are going to get stepped on if we are being preached the word of God.  If we don’t get our toes stepped on every once in a while, we are either perfect Christians (some might think they are, but there aren’t any) or the word of God isn’t penetrating our hearts.

Are we glad to see everyone at church?  Sure we have our friends and our clicks but are we happy to see everyone at church?  Or is there someone who hurt our feelings and made us upset, someone that we really don’t want to talk to right now?  We may appear to have god fellowship when we come together as a group, but we need to be accepting of everyone and forgive others who may have hurt us. 

Finally, what are we doing to reach the lost?  The pastor can’t pull people into this church.  It is up to everyone to invite their friends and neighbors to church.  It is up to us to make our presence known to our community through numerous loving acts.  Then maybe people will want to come and hear the gospel presented.  As it is, I’m not a charismatic enough person that people will come just to hear me speak.  There needs to be a reason that someone will come to church, and that reason usually is going to be some act of kindness by another church member.

So what is our vision?  Our vision needs to be that we will become a place where anyone will feel free to worship, that we can become a place where believers at any stage of their walk with Christ can find spiritual nourishment, that there is a spirit of love and unity and forgiveness in our church, and that we show our love for one another and touch the community with it that they wish to be a part of what we are.

My friends, we are not at this point.  The great thing about a vision is that it is on the horizon however.  We can reach this point.  And when we reach that point, we can still improve more.  I want to propose that we as a church align ourselves to this vision.  And that we continue to come back to it and evaluate ourselves on it.

There are some changes that will need to be made along the way.  As a church, I believe that you have made a commitment to change, recognizing that things cannot continue to go on as they have always gone.  By asking me to come, you have made a big change and also a large step of faith.  I plan on making some changes.

I know that some of you won’t like some changes that are made either.  And I want you to tell me about it.  If you don’t like something that is being done and want to know why it is being done, I want you to ask me.  Because I want to explain it to you.  I want to be sensitive to what the people at this church hold dear.  I am also asking that you trust me.

I did not come to Mainsville because I am waiting for a big church or a “real” pastoral assignment.  I came because I believe that there is potential in this place and that there are a lot of lost souls very close by who need to hear the gospel.  If I did not believe that this place has tremendous potential to reach this community, I wouldn’t waste my time with it.  So I’m asking that you buy into this vision, that we may reach others who are not like us, who are not like us largely because they have not come face to face with the love of Jesus.

But if you want to stay the same, if you want everything to be as it was, is, and ever will be, you tell your friends about all the horrible changes that are happening at Mainsville.  You can complain about the weird music the younger people listen to or their taste in clothing.  You can be well intentioned by telling a friend, who will tell a friend, who will hopefully tell me that someone is unhappy and hopefully I’ll stop doing whatever it is I’m doing that offends you.  If you want to keep things the way they are, then do this.

I’ve already worked at a church where that went on.  Let me tell you, it is the fastest way to destroy a church.  The Devil has no better weapon against the church than well meaning Christians who complain about to everybody except the people who are making the changes.  I’ve developed a policy on complaints.  I won’t listen to any complaint that starts out, “someone is upset about … but I can’t tell you who.”  If something upsets you enough that you need to talk to me about it, then I’m more than willing to listen.  But if something doesn’t upset you enough that you can’t talk to me face to face, it obviously doesn’t upset you enough that it needs changed.

But enough negative talk.  I thought it was necessary to express my feelings on complaints however.  The church I worked at was going through a building project when I left.  However, I felt that the church had no vision and did not have a sense as to where they were going and why they were going there.

We must have a vision.  We must not simply maintain the status quo so that you and I have a place where we feel comfortable going every Sunday morning.  We must strive to better this church and to reach this community that is lost and going to hell while we stand here as their only life preserving bickering about little things that Jesus would never have wasted his time even forming an opinion on!

Let me repeat my vision for you one more time, and probably about 20 more times over the next six months.  It’s based on Acts 2:42-47.  It spells out the acronym WIFE.  Worship, instruction, fellowship, evangelism.

Our vision needs to be that we will become a place where anyone will feel free to worship, that we can become a place where believers at any stage of their walk with Christ can find spiritual nourishment, that there is a spirit of love and unity and forgiveness in our church, and that we show our love for one another and touch the community with it that they wish to be a part of what we are.

This is what I believe the early church did, and God blessed them tremendously for it.  I fully believe that if we do these things as well, looking to reach not just those who we would feel comfortable sitting next to at church, but those who may look and act differently than us; then we will be truly blessed as well and the Lord will add to our number daily.