The Church is not a building

I was always told that a church isn’t just the building; it’s the people in attendance. For seventeen years, I have attended the same church – Trinity UMC. I was baptized and confirmed there, and yet I never really knew what went on behind the scenes. I knew about the ministers and the secretary, but that was about it, and I was ignorant about everything else going on. For my senior year at Columbus School for Girls (CSG), I was assigned a senior project (Senior May Program) to go out and intern for the month of May. I barely knew what I was having for breakfast the next morning, let alone the entire month of May! My mom suggested contacting Rev. Katy Wheat, who is the Associate Minister for Mission and Small Groups, to see if she would allow me to work with her for the duration of May. When Rev. Wheat accepted, I had no idea what was in store for me. All I could do was eagerly wait.

A very memorable experience is when I accompanied the pastoral staff to two home blessings at the Forum, which is a retirement community in Columbus. One of the women knows my mother and it was such a meaningful experience that I won’t ever forget. I saw these women gain instant comfort once their home was blessed; it was unbelievable!  It was not just comfort - it was the joy I could see in their eyes that made it such a happy and unforgettable experience.

Deciding to work at Trinity UMC was one of the most eye-opening experiences that I have ever had. I had the opportunity to work with so many different people and groups in and out of the church that I would have never gotten to otherwise. One of the things that touched my heart the most was being at New Life United Methodist Church on a Sunday morning. I had the chance to lead a Sunday school class that had four “tween” girls in attendance. Before I went to New Life Church, I had never had much experience in this kind of situation. I went to Upper Arlington schools through 8^th grade.  Most of the kids who go there have parents in an very comfortable financial situation. Then, for high school, I transferred to CSG. Almost all of the girls there have fairly wealthy parents. Between Upper Arlington and CSG, money wasn’t an issue for most people and I never knew of anyone who didn’t have enough money to buy food. Growing up, I never knew anyone who was in a situation any different from mine, and that’s just how it was.

When I walked into this Sunday school class, I had no idea what to expect. They didn’t seem any different from 13-year-old me, but I started noticing differences when they were telling me their grades. I was going into eighth grade when I turned 13, and they were going into sixth. Then they started talking about a girl who wasn’t there. When I asked where she was, and one of the girls said “In a homeless shelter.” I was not expecting this at all! I have never known anyone who had to go to a homeless shelter; the only experience I ever had was when I was volunteering. Later I found out that having to live in a homeless shelter was always a worry in the back of those girls’ minds. This experience helped me realize: it’s not only foreign countries that need our help - our neighbor’s right here in Central Ohio need assistance, too.

            All these opportunities strengthened my faith in so many ways. I saw people who had been Christians for 80 years, and I saw girls in situations where they were in fear of losing their houses, but still able to keep their faith in God. I thought that my faith would be strengthened by the amount of time I spent in worship, but I was completely wrong. All the new people that I met made up the Church, whether they were spending their free time volunteering or going about with their daily business. I never thought these people would change my life and teach me to be so thankful for everything I have. My faith is so much stronger especially because of what I learned from these 13-year-old girls. I learned that my faith may be shaken, but never broken. I feel God put me with Rev. Wheat to experience new situations outside of my comfort zone and my faith is so much stronger because of it.

Ellie Thompson is currently a senior at Columbus School for Girls and will be graduating on June 6, 2013. In the fall, she plans to attend Xavier University where she will double-major in marketing and finance. While at Trinity, Ellie’s main focus has been on communication and mission work. 

Remember

"So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other" Deuteronomy 4:39

One of the most fascinating abilities of  human beings lies in our ability to remember.  Just think about all the things you have experienced and memorized in your life. Bible verses, songs, phone numbers, addresses. The Preamble to the Constitution, who won the World Series in 1990.

And it goes beyond facts and figures. Memory is tied to our senses as well. We remember what we see and can call up those memories. We not only remember our favorite blue shirt but can see it. We have memories triggered by smells and touch as well. Think about your home on Thanksgiving, or Christmas. The smells of those holidays come rushing back. We remember the sensation of holding the hand of our beloved for the first time.

How powerful is our memory? Our memories are so powerful they can trigger the emotions associated with remembered events. How big is our memory? I don't know if anyone knows. I am told that we never really forget anything. It's all there simply needing the right stimulus to bring it back.

I know.  You're reading this thinking, "If my memory is so powerful, why did it take me five minutes to remember my password to log onto my computer today? Or why did I pause on the stairs this morning trying to remember where I was going and what I was going after?"

While we never forget anything, it seems our  memories  put things in a proper order. So the things that are more immediate and important to you (Anniversaries birthdays, the words to Freebird) are easier to pull up in our head then say, an address we haven't needed in thirty years. We tend to forget, or lay aside certain things, if they are not immediate or seen as a priority.

God always wants to be the immediate and the ultimate priority of our lives. He knows that what was true of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy is also true for you and me. We can get caught up in our problems. We can get overwhelmed by stress and the situations of life. And when we do, we can forget we have a God who is more powerful than our situations. Or we can get so full of ourselves during times of success that we forget God altogether. We have a few successes in life, some good days, and all of a sudden our worship time begins to grow shorter. And we forget the God who makes all things possible through His blessings. Or the weight of our sin can erase a God of love and mercy from our minds.

And so God says daily you must remember that I am God. Keep it firmly in your mind. I am God. Bigger than your problems, the author of all your blessings, the finisher of your faith, the one who loves you even in the midst of your sins.

So how can we remember? Its not that hard.  Read your Bibles daily.  Pray daily. And when you pray, begin your prayer time not with a request but with thanksgiving.  Take a moment today and remember. And let that memory change your life.

In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><

 

 

The Global Church

"Now You are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it."  1 Corinthians 12:27

I got into an interesting discussion with another pastor the other day if the United Methodist church is really an international church. His arguments were compelling to be honest.  He noted that we all have different issues. Concerns for us here in the US are not the major issues facing the church in Africa for instance. We have cultural differences. We have different economic issues.

He also noted what he saw as an imbalance in the church. Because the church is exploding in the third world, they will have an increasing influence and voice in the denomination. Yet the US, and Europe to a lesser degree, will bear most of the burden economically.  "Why should we be forced to pay and they not carry more of the burden?"

All fair questions to be sure.  Fair, but they also illustrate a wrong understanding of what the church is.  If we were talking about a business that had stores all over the world his arguments would make a lot of sense. But we are not. We are talking about the church. And the church is unlike anything else we have ever seen.

We do not get to dictate the parameters of what the church is. Only the one who created it, the foundation itself, can define what the church is.  The church is global because Jesus has declared it to be so.  In fact as we look at Scripture I don't think Jesus looks at the church as the Asian church, the European church, the rural church or the upper class suburban church. Jesus simply sees the church. Each group working together with the blessings they have to further the Kingdom of God.

Early in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about the love feast, the regular celebration of the church. The people of God would join together each bringing what they had, as they had been blessed by God, and they would share it together. They would celebrate. There was no place for arguing over who brought what, or to whom more was due.  In fact Paul goes to great lengths to tell the people they should no do this.

I see now Paul is talking about more than how we should behave at potlucks. The meal serves as an example of what the church is. This incredible, fallible, stumbling blessed instrument is somehow being used by God to tell the world about Jesus, from the home church in China, to the mega church in Texas, from Trinity to Scum of The Earth Church (It's actual name) in Denver.

We saw this last week as our annual conference joined together to bless the plane we helped purchase for Wings of the Morning. As we prayed, it struck me we prayed with a great crowd of witnesses, those missionaries who first went to the Congo, to the Christians there who prayed for this miracle, to the saints who took a young man in and helped him get his education and pilots license, from the churches that made great monetary contributions, to the child who emptied her piggy bank. Each one of us is a part of this great ministry.

Yesterday we brought 19 young people into membership of the church.  Not the four walls that bear our name, but the church I described above. For this we should be thankful. The church indeed is a wonder. And at times, when we work together, a miracle.

In Christ,
Dr. Brian Jones <><

Test Him

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him" Psalm 34:8

We've all seen those blind comparison commercials.  You know the ones I'm talking about? They put their product up against a "leading competitor" and they ask you to try them out.  And, of course, in the commercials, they always pick  the one they are selling. Of course we can thank some creative editing on their part for this.

But the point is, whether it's a search engine test, a soft drink test, a razor or a shampoo, there is a common theme. The owners of the product have so much faith in their product that they are willing to put it to the test to compare it with everything else because they are sure they will come out on top. In other words, they have great faith in their product. 

In a way that's what David suggests in this Psalm. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." In other words I believe God is so good I'm not even going to try to convince you about His goodness. Try Him out. Test Him. Examine His goodness. See what He can do.

This seems to be a major theme in David's faith.  It certainly is one He revisits time and time again in the Psalms. Put God to the test, David writes.  Taste and see His goodness.  He almost dares the reader to test God. He dares us to explore the limits of the limitless God of love, power and grace. David's faith that God is more than able to prove His Goodness is unshakable.

Now I know the more astute of you will be thinking. "Wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say not to put the Lord God to a test?"  (Deuteronomy 6:16)?  Yes it does. But in that instance, God is drawing a comparison  to a willful child who keeps pushing the boundaries to see how much he can get away with before he is punished. God doesn't want us to be obedient because we are afraid of getting punished, but because we have found peace and satisfaction in a life of obedience.

As I look at the church today, I don't think our problem is that we don't test God.  I think it's that we don't test Him enough. Oh, we test Him plenty in the sense of Deuteronomy. We push the boundaries trying to see what we can get away with. We still struggle with obedience that arises out of guilt and an obedience that arises out of love and passion.

But what we don't do enough is test God the way David suggests.  If we did, we probably wouldn't struggle with the Deuteronomy passage. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Listen to Him. Follow Him. Obey His commands and then see if you are happier. Are you more satisfied? Is life making more sense? If God is good, it will.

But we also don't test Him out in faith enough. This is the God who created the universe and who, by His Spirit, does all the miracles in the book of Acts. So why are we so afraid to believe he can actually move in our lives? Why do we not pray with boldness, expecting God to move and act? We fill our prayer lives with loopholes and second guesses. "Help me Oh God. But, of course, if You do not, I understand."  I have a hard time seeing David pray this way. He knew God is good. He knew we could pray with boldness.

So what about you? Are you willing to take the most important test of all? Test Him. Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Put Him to the test.  Pray and live in faith and boldness. See what God can do with your life.

In Christ,
Dr. Brian Jones <><

The Beauty Of Church

"Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow Me, and I will show you how to fish for people" (Matthew 4:19)

Yesterday a friend asked on Facebook if he should watch baseball or the NBA playoff. I thought his issue was a regular season game versus a playoff game.  It turns out he was debating whether to watch a high scoring basketball game or a low scoring baseball game. It seems his favorite baseball team is struggling to generate any runs.

I commented back to him that baseball is often a lot like church. Their beauty is often not about the numbers. I have to admit I was kind of proud of that thought when I said it.  But the more I've thought about it, the more true it occurs to me it is.

It's certainly true for baseball. The end score may be 1-0, which could indicate a boring game. But what if it was a perfect game and the pitcher had to keep the other team at bay for nine innings? Or if that 1-0 score was due to numerous ESPN-highlight-worthy defensive plays? Or that one run was scored by an 18 yr. old rookie in his first major league at bat. To say nothing of the back and forth managerial strategy. The score doesn't indicate any of this. It only tells a part of the story.

That's true for the church as well. As I say this, let me say from the beginning, I do think numbers are important. Most of the time when I see pastors down play numbers it usually means they are struggling to grow their church. Not always, but usually. Numerical growth is a sign of a healthy congregation. But its a sign. Not the only exclusive sign that God is doing a good work in a church.

What if a church doesn't have big numbers or grow numerically that year?  Does it mean that nothing good happened? What about the one person who gave their life to Christ during a church service? Seems to me Jesus says that the shepherd will leave the 99 sheep to find the lost one, and rejoice when it's found (Luke 15). What if that church helped some children not to go hungry anymore or helped someone back into sobriety? What if it's not so easily measured? We can't put it on a chart, but many in that church grew in their love and devotion to God.  Became better disciples.  Became more Christlike. These things never show up in a spreadsheet, but they are important aren't they?

We get caught up when we try to measure the effectiveness of an eternal creature such as the church solely by temporal means. So what is our alternative? Let's go back to our Scripture. Jesus simple says "Follow Me." That's it. A simple, yet terribly profound request for obedience. Follow me. Look where I am going and go with me. Trust I am going before you and will be there when you arrive. Live like me.

Notice there is nothing in there about numbers. It's all about relationship and obedience. It's not that we leave things like numbers behind.  It's simply that we understand as a church that any measure of success comes from being obedient and going where Jesus wants us to go. And becoming as Christlike as possible.

Of course that's true for us as individual Christians as well. Our success with God is not about what we accomplish, so much as who we become. The question we must always keep before us is this: Am I following Jesus and becoming more Christlike? Today we  pray you will hear the call of Jesus, "Come, follow me."

In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><