[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], May 2021]
It’s easy to talk about the church as a body, with every part important and necessary, but does our definition of church make it difficult for some people to use their gifts? Do we try and force people to fit into a mould they were never designed for?
On Sunday morning, Helen talked about the fact that the church is like a body where every individual part is important, it’s essential, it has a part to play in the life and the workings of the church. Maybe by the end of it you were left thinking “I don’t know what part I’ve got to play, I don’t know what gift I’ve got to offer, I’ve got nothing that I can offer to the church” and perhaps you’re right; you haven’t got anything to offer.
I think we would probably all agree that church isn’t the building and, if this past year and a bit has done anything, it’s proved that fact but I think many of us fall into the mistake of thinking that church is a service. That time on a Sunday morning or possibly an evening when for an hour and a bit you sing songs, listen to a sermon, have tea and coffee, if you’re lucky a bit of cake as well. Or maybe you also include in that definition a home group or a community group that you meet with midweek to study the Bible. Because we define church that way often the roles and the responsibilities that we deem as important are shaped by that particular context.
I as a church leader fall into that trap time and time again. If I think about how am I going to grow our church, how are we going to make it successful, what I need to employ a worship leader or a youth worker or a community outreach person. I’ve got to work hard, employ the right people, get people in the right the right jobs in order to build the church.
Well, actually maybe that’s my first mistake; thinking that I – that we -need to build the church because the Bible makes it clear that the church belongs to Jesus. In fact Jesus called it his body and Jesus said “I will build my church”. It’s his church, it’s his body, it’s his responsibility. Now that doesn’t let us off the hook. We’ve still got a part to play in that but it is not our job to build the church.
Maybe you’re thinking “well I still don’t see where I fit in, I still don’t see that I have gifts that’s going to help the church to grow I don’t know what part I have to play”.
Maybe that’s our second mistake. I think we have too narrow a definition of church. We need to broaden how we view church, how we understand church and it is so much more than just a Sunday service or a midweek meeting. See, church is a community of people who are journeying in faith together and empowering and equipping each other to live out their faith 24-7 in whatever context you, I, we may find ourselves: with our friends, with our family, at work, at play, at the leisure centre, at the chess club, at the gardening club or at the school gates. God has placed you in a particular context with particular people to do a particular job. In fact, that’s what God has designed you to do. You are fearfully and wonderfully made for a particular purpose and those things that make you different, that perhaps makes it difficult for you to fit in at church and exercise gifts are the very things that make you indispensable.
So it’s quite possible to argue that our churches have got a bit ‘samey’ in this country; full of white elderly women led by white well-educated men. Actually, variety really is the spice of life. Variety, I think, is what makes church more indicative of Christ. It’s what makes us more effective, it makes us more able to reach out to those hard-to-reach areas, those people that look at church and think “Well, there’s no one there like me so why would I want to be part of that?”
I think what myself as a church leader and us as the institution of the church need to learn is how to raise up leaders who are different, to equip and empower those whose gifts don’t fall into that narrow definition of of church gifts that serve the service, gifts that are about producing a show basically.
It means I need to recognize those people that bring something of Christ into their communities, into their workplaces, into their homes, and inspire them, help them to realize, how he helped you to realize that God has a plan for you that God has made you with a purpose and God wants to work with you to bring his kingdom and its values of justice, love, mercy and peace into every aspect of your life.
You do have a part to play, you are important. Maybe you need to chat to God and maybe a church leader about that.
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[1] YouTube link: Do I Have Anything To Offer?
Bible references: ~
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church online[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], May 2021]
At the beginning of Lockdown there was huge excitement about viewing figures and online engagement with church, and very quickly the word ‘revival’ was being used. A year later it hasn’t happened, but what do we actually mean by ‘revival’ and what is our part to play in it?
If we go back a year ago, to the beginning of the pandemic, there was some excitement in church circles because we discovered on-line church and our viewing figures were just going through the roof. We were getting so many more people accessing our online services than we would ever do in physical church.
There was talk in many Christian circles about ‘revival’; this Holy Grail, I guess, of Christian mission, that a society that is largely un-religious and secular would turn back to church and turn back to Christ.
But there’s danger in this understanding of revival because it panders to the idea that if, as Christians, we pray hard enough and we wait, then people will come flooding back to church. In fact, they won’t be coming back to church because they were never at church in the first place.
Actually, a year later, a year on in the pandemic, revival hasn’t happened, people haven’t come flooding back to church, and we’re not even sure what we’re going to have when we return to a physical Sunday service. Revival hasn’t happened and it won’t happen in the way that we hope it will.
If we look at the definition of the word revive it means to bring back to life or bring back to consciousness, to take something that was dead and give it life, to take someone who’s asleep and to wake them up. I think that applies far more to the UK church, to followers of Jesus, than it does to society around us. We need to wake up to the task that lies before us, the task that God has given us. We need to be revived!
It reminds me of the prophet Ezekiel from the Old Testament; one of God’s voices to the nation of Israel. In the vision, Ezekiel is shown by God a valley, a valley filled with dry bones, human remains with no life in them at all. Ezekiel is told to pray over these bones, to prophecy over them that they will have life. As Ezekiel does this, he sees these bones join back together; they have flesh and tendons and skin. Then God tells Ezekiel to prophecy breath into them. God breathes life into these dead bodies and they become a living might army. Now, that is revival. God was saying that this valley, this army of dry bones was the nation of Israel.
I believe that God wants to do what he did to those dry bones to us as his people, the body of Christ, followers of Jesus. We need to be revived, we need to regain consciousness, we need to wake up. Paul, one of the most prolific writers in the New Testament and arguably the most important leader of his time, wrote these words to the Christians in the church at Ephesus. He said, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you”.
We need to wake up, we need to realise that we need to work really, really hard to turn things around. Yes, prayer is important but prayer if not accompanied by work, if unaccompanied being willing to step out of our comfort zones – well, it’s not going to do anything. God is not going to bring people flooding to the church if we’re not willing to step out of it.
The past year, as a nation, we have woken up to racial injustice, we have woken up to environmental issues but my concern is, that in the past year the Christian church is more asleep than ever.
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[1] YouTube link: Is Revival Coming?
Bible references: Ezekiel 37 v1-14, Ephesians 5 v14
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church online