Thursday, March 22, 2012

Just give me Jesus

I have been in the ministry for about 12 years now in different capacities.  I have gone to seminars, sat through seminary classes, and read countless books on the subject of church.  I have read a lot of books on how to grow your church.  Pretty much all of those books contain a chapter or blurb about a vision statement.  Coming up with a vision statement has been ingrained in my mind and it got to the point that I felt inadequate as a pastor if I did not have a cool vision statement that no other church had.  Do you know how hard it is to come up with a vision statement?  I have spent hours praying and even fasting over a vision statement, thinking that a vision statement would instantly grow my church.
Just recently I have come to a realization: the only vision the church needs is Jesus!  I am not saying that it is not necessary to be organized and know what direction God wants your church to go.  But, do we really need fancy vision statements that essentially say we are a church that follows the teachings, practices, and the person of Jesus Christ?  No wonder people are so confused as to which church is the right church.
The consumer driven society we live in has made its way into the church.  People want more than the Gospel.  They want more than Jesus.  They want a thriving youth ministry.  They want great worship music (I will confess that I am one of those people).  They want a great children's ministry.  But, what would happen if you simply offered people Jesus?  Would he be enough?
An old hymn that I like is "Be Thou My Vision."  This hymn is a prayer asking the Lord of our hearts to be our vision not some fancy statement.  If we are going to be the Church that Christ died for, He needs to be the vision of our churches.  We have to stop catering to consumers and start following the Savior.  We should never grow tired of the Gospel.  We should never grow tired of hearing what Christ has done for us.  We should be hungry and thirsty for more of Jesus.  We should never push away from the table and tell him, "I'm full."  Jesus himself said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).  But, the thing about being filled is that it is not a sense of fulness that is permanent.  Jesus fills that empty void in our souls, but he leaves us wanting and craving more of him.  This is how growth in our churches is going to happen.  If we become more consumed with Jesus and less consumed with consumerism, then people will respond to that.  We will be compelled to be involved in our churches.  We will be compelled to take the Gospel to our neighborhoods.  We will be compelled to be more like Jesus. 

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