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How’s your church doing? Since I’ve been on staff at my church, I’m well aware that churches that thrive and do well are those who have lots of involvement from the congregation. I’m proposing that we adopt the Boy Scout mantra to leave things better than we found them, and I was thinking how much better our churches would be doing if every church member took that seriously.
You know, it’s not difficult to find things wrong with your church. It’s full of people—people who make mistakes, people who don’t have it all together, many are new believers with lots to learn. So, you won’t have trouble finding something about your church that you don’t like so much. But if it’s a Bible preaching church, under godly leadership, and that’s where God has put you, then you have to ask yourself what you’re doing to make it a better church.
I think of a woman who was in our church until God called her home—we called her Miss Shirley. Miss Shirley never held an office in our church, but few people have benefited the church like she did. For years she made it her job to greet someone new every Sunday, invite someone new to sit with her, get to know them, and just share God’s love with them. One of my friends tells how when she started coming to our church, she was very wounded and was trying to just isolate herself from everyone, but Miss Shirley found her, sat with her, invited her to a Sunday class, and eventually helped her get involved and find healing. Miss Shirley definitely left our church better than she found it.
Just ask yourself: If you dropped out of your church today, would it leave a hole? Would your service to the church be missed?
God created us for community; we are one body in Christ, and we need each other for fellowship, for healing, for growth, for accountability. I hope you are very much committed to your church and you can say for sure that you are leaving it better than you found it.