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 <><