It's Too Small A Thing ...

I may be spiritualizing this text a bit that refers to the Messiah and the scope of his ministry. The LORD said, “It is too small a thing” for Jesus to redeem the nation of Israel; the Messiah will bring salvation to the ends of the earth (Isa 49:6).

This brings two things into focus for me. First, that planting a church is too small of a goal, and it isn’t specific enough. We could call ourselves a church with just two or three Jesus-followers gathered together. Jesus is not against the church, He is her Head. But Jesus is not interested in seeing a local church established, even one that we might call a “life-giving church.” The goal of the church is not to have children (new baby churches that grow and mature). The goal is to fill the earth, not make children, if we are going to use the parent-child analogy, or mother-daughter image. We can’t have one offspring, pat ourselves on the back, kick back and think we’ve done our duty. The goal, role, mission of the church, as the incarnation of the Messiah, is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

If 25% of people in America who don’t go to church would visit a church if invited by a friend (according to a Barna Research Group survey), are we going to be satisfied to find that 25% and build our own little kingdom? What about the other 75%. What strategies will we initiate to reach the 75%? And do we have the best purposes and goals that chart the course for the church to help us develop the right strategies?

If we live in a community of 20,000 people and 30% (6,000) are in church on any given Sunday morning, we could establish a significant church with the 25% (5,000) who would visit if asked. But what about the remaining 9,000 people in the community? Will they be left out all together? They obviously have no interest in the “church.” Should we just wait till they do have an interest so that they will attend “church” with us? Or can we be assured that they will develop some interest in visiting a church if we just leave them alone? The more penetrating question that we need to answer is, “Do we have any responsibility for these 14,000 people that have no relationship with a local church?”

The second thing that strikes me from Isaiah 49:6 is that creating a relevant Sunday worship gathering (or high energy children’s and student programs, you name the ministry or program), even if it is the “best” in our area is “too small a thing.” Eighty to 100% of the focus and energy of the people who make up the church can’t be spent on one morning (and/or one evening) out of the week. But when we think about “church” we think about Sunday morning and maybe about our small group that meets one other hour during the week. At most, we are talking about five hours out of the week that receives almost all of the attention and energy, the resources of the local church. And all of that goes toward the 20% of the population of our communities (if we live in the Bible Belt) that attend “church” on Sunday morning. It’s way too small a thing to focus most of our effort on the few that show up every Sunday. This is not the heart of our redeeming God.