Church FOR the Community

There are many churches IN a community. Within two miles of the building our church leases are four other churches. If one is looking for a church IN our community she could find one easily. Could the same be said however, of a church FOR the community?

My hope for my church is that we won't just be a church IN our community, but that we will be a church FOR our community. It may seem like mere semantics but there is a significant difference between the two.

Churches IN their communities occupy buildings and run programs and services for their people. They have a sign displaying service times inviting people to come to them and largely evaluate success and health by butts and bucks. Sadly there are many churches that fall into this category. Inside their walls they believe that they have a good thing going, but outside of their walls no one even knows that they exist.

Churches FOR their communities may have buildings but their buildings are community centers. They're seen as a resource with which they can bless their community. Their programs and ministries aren't aimed at their people, rather they strive to mobilize their people to impact the community with the good news of Jesus. They're less concerned with the service, then they are serving and instead of just inviting people to come to church, they are passionate about being the church that goes to the people. Health and success are evaluated by community impact and transformation. While they may still have a good thing going on in their space people outside of their walls know about them because they partner with people and groups in the community to make a difference together.

Last week one of our Villages (Villages are what we call our small groups) served at a local homeless shelter. Another Village served with a local organization that mentors and empowers at-risk youth and children. Instead of our regular Sunday Worship Experience we partnered with the local food pantry and distributed backpacks to the children of the pantry's patrons. We put on a back to school event where we threw these families a party with live music, snow cones, games, face painting, balloon animals, and bouncehouses. At this event we offered free haircuts, family pictures, and pedicures. Some may think that we didn't have real church on Sunday, but it just may have been the most real expression of church we've had in a while.

I recently heard a Free Methodist pastor named Brenda Young share about how her church is impacting their community. She shared a simple yet compelling vision for her local church, that she wants her church to be the number one resource in their community. That is a beautiful description of a church that is FOR their community!

The church that I pastor is not the number one resource in our community. Sadly, there are many in our community that don't have a clue who we are. But I hope this changes, because I firmly believe that God did not invent the church for the sake of a great experience one morning a week, but that God invented and created the church for community and world impact. God is restoring and renewing all things and he has invited the church to join him on this mission. Another way of putting this is that God's mission has a church. We are an expression of God's mission, the Missio Dei, to our community!

A couple months ago I attended a conference where author and pastor Michael Frost shared a challenging illustration of how we often interact with our communities. He recounted an incident leading up the wedding of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. A reported asked Charles is he was in love with Lady Di to which Charles responded, "I guess so, whatever love is." The prince's response was less than flattering, hardly a wonderful expression of romance. Frost argued that sadly this is how many churches approach their communities. We're apathetic, indifferent, and dispassionate. Frost challenged us to love our communities, to woo them, to romance them. To stand with them whether they suffer or prosper.

So is your church romancing and wooing your community? If your church left town, would anyone protest? Would anyone notice? What local agencies and ministries have you partnered with? Do you know the leaders and gatekeepers in your community? What is your community's heartcry? What is her deepest need?

Don't just be a church IN your community. Strive to be a church FOR your community.