The purpose of this essay is to briefly describe my love for the church, share my understanding of its mission and purpose and my present concerns for her. I will speak broadly and informally out of my love for the church, giving you a better perspective on my background and purpose for continuing education.
The Gospel and the Church
2000 years ago, a ragtag group of disciples preached a message that would captivate and convert thousands. It was the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Good News, also known as the Gospel, is the hope of the in-breaking Kingdom of God. Jesus spent his life and ministry announcing the arrival of his Father’s kingdom, calling all people to repentance. The long awaited hope of the Messiah for the Jews, found its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Following the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, there is now the present hope of the kingdom. Jesus, in his teaching and life modeled the way of the kingdom. The selfless life of Christ, led him to the cross, offering the world forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This Gospel message is to be on the lips of every follower of Jesus Christ. He gives the Great Commission to go out and make disciples of all people of every race.
This message would spread and give hope. After preaching Christ Crucified and Resurrected, the people responded, “What shall we do?” Peter called the people to repentance and baptism at Pentecost, and it sparked the beginning of the church. Acts 2 describes a people who were devoted to meeting together, to fellowship and breaking bread. They loved to hear the Apostles teach and they prayed every day. People found everything in common, and sold their possessions. This devoted group of followers would be known as the first followers of Christ, Christians.
The church became those who cling to, share, and live out the ways of the kingdom and the teaching of Christ. The Church is the body of Christ and continues the ministry of Jesus to the end of the age. The church lives in the reality of the in-breaking kingdom, which has not fully come, but it is certainly on its way. The church then has the awesome task of directing people to the kingdom and sharing the hope of eternal life in it.
As a Christian, I have the awesome task of belonging to a local church that lives out the hope of the kingdom in its small part of the world. Churches or communities of Christians, everywhere, exist as salt and a beacon of light in this dark world. The Church shares the message of hope, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the joy of the kingdom.
The Gospel and the Church are so closely tied together, that one cannot truly exist without the other. A Church that does not operate in light of the gospel is really no church at all, and the gospel, without the church, fails to announce the hope of the kingdom. The two need each other, the Church is the Gospel proclaimed and lived out on a daily basis.
Why I love the Church
Four years ago I met a blind man named Bob. Bob has a debilitating disease that causes vision problems. I met Bob because on weekends, while I was studying at Great Lakes Christian College, I would fill vacant pulpits in churches throughout Lower Michigan. I met Bob, while filling the pulpit at a Christian church in Ypsilanti, MI. Bob was an Elder of the church there, and the last one left standing. Most everyone had left at this point, and Bob, his wife, and thirty others continued the ministry of the church. I preached there for three consecutive weekends and got to know Bob fairly well. His devotion and long standing commitment to the church was evident by the way he navigated the stage with precision and keen awareness for every obstacle, be it a microphone chord or music stand. Bob spent a lot of time and energy invested as a leader there. He had devoted his life to that church family.
It would be a year before I saw Bob again. I was at the church to preach again, I saw all the familiar faces, only Bob looked as though he aged ten years. He was over sixty as it was but cracks of life had taken over his face. Accompanying his aged face was an unusually aggressive hiccup. This hiccup was constant and unrelenting. Every ten to fifteen seconds this hiccup would come back and Bob would writhe in pain.
Bob, over the last year, began showing the wear and tear of trying to sustain and maintain a church. The cause of the hiccups was the stress of shouldering the many responsibilities of the church. There was so much stress on Bob, a doctor advised him to leave the church or it was going to kill him.
The pain he went through for over a year is heartbreaking. The church eventually closed their doors and Bob was able to step away and his horrific hiccups subsided. I admire Bob, while others would have quit; he kept to the awesome task of caring for the people in the church. While others were stepping away, he was doing what he could for the sake of the congregation.
When I first saw this unfortunate situation unfolding with Bob, I told my soon to be wife, Wendy that I never want something like that to happen to me. I held that opinion on the situation for a long time.
It wasn’t until later in my life that I learned a truly valuable lesson from Bob. After careful reflection, I realize Bob was willing to give his life for the church. A lot of people might be willing to give up there life for a church that they think will make a significant kingdom impact. To give of your life for an old and dying church is another something entirely different. No one advises you to stay with a sinking ship, but Bob did. I know now that Bob was only following the way of the cross, exemplified by Christ. Bob was only doing for the church he loved what his Savior did for all people, for every Church.
I love the church, because Christ loved the church and gave his life up for her. I love the church because, even in its often broken state, it is the only hope this world truly has. It is the only hope that the people in this world may find true comfort and peace. The Church’s marriage to the Gospel gives it the power to change communities, to change hardened hearts and transform lives. Bob knows this, and gave his life devotion to the church, because his hope is in the kingdom. No one would go through what he went through if he didn’t believe in the mission and purpose of the church. I have that same desire, I hope to avoid the painful hiccups, but Bob certainly put the love of Christ in perspective. Jesus gave his life for the church; I should show the same compassion and sacrifice for her as well.
Why I will always love the church
I love the church because of a class with Professor Dr. John Nugent at GLCC. John is one of many influential people in my life, but no one has instilled a love for the church quite like John. In his Ecclesiology course, he taught me a great deal about the church; about it’s purpose and mission. It was in this class that John introduced me to an influential Mennonite Theologian, John Howard Yoder. It was in this class where I developed a greater understanding of the church and its relationship to the kingdom as well.
For all of my life, up until this class, my view on the gospel was small and incoherent babble. It was here where I developed a love for what the church is to truly be.
I love the church because she has the awesome task of being the sign, foretaste and herald of the kingdom of God. As a sign, the church directs the people to the hope of the kingdom. The church as a foretaste, gives the world at large and fellow Christians a taste of what the kingdom will be like. People taste peace and joy and the abundant life within the church. Finally, the Church as a herald announces to the entire world the kingdom is upon us, continuing the very ministry of Christ.
I can’t put into words what this teaching has done for my life. It’s changed everything. I’ve gone from such a small view of the church, limiting it to an exclusive country club where a select few are welcome to a more kingdom-centered, cruciform perspective of the church. It is in this kingdom heralding perspective that I now operate and function as a Christian in the church. The church is so much more than me, or my hope or my agenda. The church is more than some program offering, Sunday School teaching, communion partaking gathering of folks; rather the church is a fellowship of messengers, harkening and living out the true hope of the world, Jesus Christ.
My love for the church is constant. The church offers the words of hope, heralding a kingdom unlike the kingdoms of the world. It is a wonderful, living, breathing organism that is alive in communities across the globe. God truly knows what he is doing with the Church and I am so thankful I may be a part of God’s mission of reconciling the world back to him.
Why I serve in the church and my opinion of present problems within the Church.
The life transformation I experienced in college is still shaping and defining my life of service to God within his church today. I want people to experience the same freeing message of Christ as I have experienced in my life. I want people to be transformed by the love of Christ.
In my experience, the church, for the most part is more exclusive than inclusive. What I mean by that is simply, many churches are happy to be a Country Club. There is an exclusive or elite group of people who belong to the church, and anyone else who wants to join has to meet certain prerequisites. Churches have become for the “Righteous Elite” instead of the outcasts and poor and it leaves me often wondering what our Savior died for.
I have deep within my heart a desire to change the perspective of not only the church I now serve, but also the church as a whole. The church needs to be talking about issues in our world and responding in love and kindness, while still posturing as heralds of the kingdom.
Not only must the church become a greater witness of the things to come, it must also fulfill the Great Commission of Christ to make disciples. In Dallas Willard’s book, the Great Omission, he establishes well the point that the church has failed to make disciples. Much like the cost of discipleship, Willard argues there is a Cost to Non-Discipleship as well. Because of this Non-Discipleship, there is a problem within many churches; they are filled with what Willard calls “Vampire Christians.” All they want is the blood and the forgiveness of Christ; they do not desire to make Christ the Lord of their life. Vampire Christians want his blood and forgiveness, not his self-sacrificial ways.
I love the church and I love her too much to let it go the way of the exclusive country club or give way to Vampire Christianity. Christ gave his life for the Church and he didn’t do so that people may exclude themselves from caring for the poor, ministering to the weak and offering way to the kingdom. Christ not only gave his blood, but his Way and his Truth as well. The church is encouraged and commanded to love God with all heart, soul and strength. The church is asked to carry its cross daily; Vampires Christians just don’t do that.
This is why I serve in the church and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. A lot of people seem to get out of ministry in the local church to work in the world and make an impact through a different avenue. At times, I am tempted to leave the small local church ministry, but it is the growing desire within me to make disciples that holds me firmly in the church. There is no better place for me to be than ministering to the local church and proclaiming the hope-filled message of the Gospel. I combat country clubism and Vampires every weekend, preaching the demands and hope of the Gospel. I have the awesome privilege, within the church to proclaim the hope-filled message of the kingdom come.
Paul gives us in 2 Corinthians a clear message and purpose as a church. We are to be in the ministry of reconciliation. The church has a clear and definite role in this ministry, for it is within the church where we teach and admonish one another, but also forgive one another. Vampires and churchgoers with the Country Club mentality do not have in mind the ministry of reconciliation.
Therefore, I will always serve in the church, because if I, and others, do not practice and teach the ministry of reconciliation, we will have forfeited or our witness and will have lost our saltiness. We will become salt that is good only for the roads and sidewalks of winter, to be trampled by men.
We have the awesome task to be the witnesses of the kingdom. There needs to be this encouragement from the pulpits every week from the men and women who minister in the church today.
Why I want to learn more
When I think of the church, the challenges presented me on a daily basis: parents threatening divorce, their children getting in trouble or their work is laying off 300 employees, on and on it goes. Amidst these daily struggles for Christians, I realize I am one of among a select few who are overly concerned about where the church is heading. People are more concerned about their daily routine getting upset as opposed to the importance of the ministry of reconciliation, sharing the gospel and being kingdom witnesses.
I want to learn more about Christ and his church, shepherding and leading the flock, caring for the poor and much more. I want to be able to help people in such a way that the trouble in their marriage can be directed in a way that will eventually bear witness to the hope we have in Christ. I want to speak words of truth to people in the moments of trouble and joy. I want to be able to better communicate the message of hope so people will come and accept Christ. I need wisdom and strength from God. And an education may give this wisdom, but it is ultimately given to a man who seeks it from God. In all of my endeavors, I try to seek God’s wisdom, and an education at AMBS will require that I seek it on a daily basis.
When I look to the men of God who have influenced my life, Bob the Elder, laying down his life for the sake of the Church or my friend and professor, Dr. John Nugent, who challenged my preconceived notions of the church and asked me to believe in something greater, their commitment to God’s Word and to the church has inspired me. I want that same devotion to the church in my life. I want to influence people towards a greater passion of the truth of Jesus Christ. I want to help people participate in the ministry of reconciliation and live their life in such a way that it announces the kingdom.
The hope of this world is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church has the awesome task of announcing that hope to the world. I love the church, and will always desire to be apart of it.
