I am really thankful for all the people who have signed up to help/hang out at our tent at the Fair (details) this year! After the great response we had to our Relay for Life effort this year I wasn’t surprised that we will be taking a great team to meet and serve “York Countians” at the fair…when there is an opportunity to serve the community, actionchurch folks step up to the plate in a big way! You guys Rock!
I’ve been thinking though, that besides all the great volunteer support we have this year, in some ways it is becoming more difficult to do community events like the fair…not easier. Last year all we were concerned about was telling the people of York county about Jesus…and a place that they could hear about him on Sunday mornings even if they “didn’t like church”. All our efforts and funds were focused on that goal! This year we are balancing “outreach” (I hate that word but whatever…) events with planning, funding, and preparing for upcoming Sunday mornings and dealing with the “care and feeding” of the organization we call actionchurch. The typical…and sadly, normal… response would be to become less and less outward focused as we become larger and more complex as a church. To shift our focus from those “outside”…to caring for “each other” on the “inside”. It’s a subtle shift…but it happens…
The thing that inspires and motivates me to never let actionchurch become “inward focused” is the mission that Jesus gave to the church before he left for heaven: “Go into all the world and preach the Good news to everyone”. It doesn’t say “wait for the world to come to you”… and as far as I can tell there was no expiration date!
He didn’t say “go into all the world” …
- …Until your “church is pretty much full” on Sunday morning
- …until it gets too “expensive” to reach out to others because “running a church is an expensive operation”.
- … until culture changes and you would have to change your methods to actually connect with people…
- … until you get too busy with your own church programs to have time to serve those outside…
Although at times it would certainly be more convenient…I can’t find any of these “expiration dates” or “escape clauses” in the command Jesus gave to us… Our responsibility is to be “simple” and “efficient” as a church so that we never run out of “money and energy” to actually do the work that Jesus left for the church…
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Mark 16:15