A Game of Sardines

I love history. I’m at least intrigued by history. I enjoy museums and if a place or era or person gets my heart, then begins a rabbit trail of adventure and discovery. What place or person or era gets your heart? Even if it’s pop culture or today’s top headlines, I think all of us are intrigued by something outside of ourselves.

So I’m on a rabbit trail today. It’s about the Church. I love the Church of Jesus. I love where we’re at today as a Church and believe together we are unified, sharing resources, more inclusive to our world, more aware of serving others than just preaching to others, and becoming more biblically literate. There are always exceptions and this might not be your experience or opinion. In my line of work, I’m watching a younger generation drawn to the heart of God and His truth and goodness because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that changes everything. I still struggle at this question though.

This question might not feel like a trail but a cliff dive. Forgive me! Historically, when did the Church turn inward? What caused us to shift priority to caring primarily for the 99 inside rather than the 1 outside? What has caused our ministries inside the Church to far outnumber the ministries outside the Church? Unless your community is different from mine, there are still more people outside the Church in our city than inside the Church.

The Church must take responsibility to equip Christians to share their faith with others. Father James Mallon defines evangelization as bringing someone outside a relationship with Jesus into a relationship with Jesus. Catholic or Protestant, we can agree that is a great definition we can all rally around. 

If me and you are a part of the Church of Jesus, we have a mandate to go and make disciples. It’s not a mandate to join a program at church or leave this up to the church staff or wait until the perfect opportunity to invite. We can alter the course of Church history when we start seeing those outside a relationship with Jesus and praying, listening, and caring to bring them into a relationship with Jesus. 

The Church can be a messy place as it is made up of messy people who are figuring out their issues week in and week out in community under the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s happy news that we are not bringing people to saving knowledge of the Church but of Jesus. He isn’t messy. Oh no. He loves all the messiness of me and you and still delights in us. I can bring someone into that! And then the next best thing is to be a part of the growing Church like a game of sardines. One person is hidden and the 99 go and look for the one. When the one is found by another, they stay together. Oh that the Church will pay attention to the one. By Church, I mean me and you. 

Your history friend,

Shauna