Who Get's It? It's About the Kingdom of God

In my work with 57 churches in our association, I am able to gain quite a different perspective than when I was a pastor or campus minister. All of these churches face challenges in today's world. Many, if not all, have a number of committed Christ followers. However, the power of the institutional system we have created at times tends to clearly overshadow any real Kingdom focus. What do I mean by that? We (that's us Baptists and evangelicals in general)developed a very strong and powerful church system. It is organized, structured, and managed much like a business. When we adopt that business management style, we become producers and consumers of religious services and activities. As religious consumers we focus on what we want and what we want for our families instead of focusing on what Jesus would have us do and how Jesus would have us live. That means that those churches with the best programs and the most entertaining "worship" tend to attract the most "consumers."
We lose sight of what it means to be disciples of Jesus and makers of disciples. We lose our missional focus. We learned very well how to "do" church but we have not learned as well how to "be" the church.

Here is how that is fleshed out. Church members focus on whether or not they have good programs and activities, interesting and lively worship services, and whether or not they are growing, that is, getting larger in attendance, membership, and contributions. With these "nickels and noses" ideas, if things are not growing, we fall into "survival" mode, doing whatever we can to insure the "survival" of our church. As you have probably noticed, I mentioned nothing about being missionally focused. Few members are focused on doing the mission, that is, making Jesus followers.

Do you wonder who gets it? How does the one who gets it live out his or her calling while staying engaged in the church institution? I don't all have the answers, but I do have a suggestion or two. First of all, we can't wait until everybody "gets it" because everybody won't "get it." So, we have to encourage and empower those who "get it" to be involved in fulfilling their God-given mission, and we have to try to expand their influence within the existing church system. Hopefully we can surround them in prayer and support. Secondly, we have to share the light, tell the story, proclaim the good news about those who are actively involved in the missional enterprise. Thirdly, we must honor the command of Jesus who said "Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest." Become earnest in prayer for the missional task. Prayer changes things, but more than that, it changes us.