The Church is to Serve

Last week my wife and I went door to door to promote a community outreach event the church is putting on next Friday. I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a bunch of colorful fliers. People would answer the door, barley open it, or open it, step outside, then close it again. I’d tell them my name, introduce my wife, and then tell them I was a pastor. Their faces showed discomfort and honestly a little anger and skepticism.

I wasn’t there to evangelize by telling them that if they didn’t repent they’d burn in Hell, but I think that’s the idea people have when you tell them you’re from a church. I had one guy tell me he wasn’t interested as soon as I said the word "church", and closed the door before I could say “Have a nice day.” A lot of people probably had the same thought but were kind enough to listen.

People seemed very hesitant, and then we told them why we had come, to invite them to a free community event. Immediately their faces changed. There was relief. They were open and receptive to the invitation. People were excited that that was why we were there. We weren’t looking for anything from them, we didn’t have any words of anger or condemnation, we simply had an invitation to an event for the family.

People are open to that. My mentor has said more times than I can remember, “Separation of Church and State is never an issue when the church gets down on its knees with a basin and a towel and says, ‘How can we serve you?’” That statement is normally preceded with, “No one ever became a follower of Christ because they lost an argument; people become followers of Christ because they are loved. People are loved into the Kingdom.”

We have been blessed with an incredible message of hope and love. Why have we turned it into a message of fear and anger? We are to show love; Jesus said that is how people would know we were His followers (John 13.35). We are to serve; Jesus said that if He, our Lord and teacher, washed the feet of His disciples then we ought to wash the feet of others (John 13.14).

If Christians would live up to the name they carry then the church would be able to be the church it was called to be. If the church would be the body of Christ filled disciples who lived with love flowing out of them, the response from people when you told them you were with a church would be different. We’re here to love, we’re here to serve. Why have we missed that? Why are we refusing to do that?

One of the biggest failures in this area happened in the Late 1890's in South Africa. A young man from India had been studying the Bible and was very seriously considering becoming a follower of Christ. He found a church in the area and went on Sunday morning. When he arrived he was refused entrance because of his race, and was threatened that if he didn't leave he would be thrown down the steps. After this incident Gandhi never again considered becoming a Christian. What would have happened to India if that church had been the church it was called to be?

Who knows when someone who will have an impact like Gandhi will come into our path. Will they see Jesus in us, or will they respond as Gandhi did, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

Peace be with you