Bigger Than You

Hello Emmanuel,

Why do people go to church?  There are lots of different answers for this:  obligation, worship, social activity, hopefulness, faithfulness, social standing…. Oh… and to see the pastor…  or.. to be seen by the pastor.

While some reasons are good and others a bit shallow, I believe that many have a deep-seeded desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  For myself, I constantly struggle with the tension of working with people and avoiding people.  While I know working with people is preferable to being a healthy church, my selfish side, at times, wants to avoid people because working with people is… well… so MUCH MORE WORK!

And yet I work with people because it is almost always the right way to go.  It creates a healthier church; is more rewarding; is truer to my Call; and at the end of the day, I simply feel more fulfilled in how I’ve spent my time and energy.

I believe God puts in me a deep-seeded desire to be a part of something bigger than just me.  I believe this, to various degrees, is true of most everyone.  As I have visited various churches of various sizes, the same question came back to me.  Why do people come to this church?

The answer?  One particular Sunday I sat in an auditorium that could seat over 2,000 people and listened to the pastor talk about monster ministries that impacts entire communities, even on the other side of the world.  The worship service brought alive the new church that was being built in South Africa and how you could be a part of it.  The message was direct.  ‘You can be a part of this blessing’.  ‘You can be a part of something so much bigger than yourself’.  And it was big and it was important.  And people flocked to the church… thousands even.

Not just missions, but in everything the church did, it made sure people understood how important it was.  Children’s ministry, hospitality, small groups, youth programs, on and on.  The leadership believed it was important and important to communicate how important it was to get you, an important person, involved.  Get it?

While it may sound like a sneaky marketing tool, it delves into people’s deep-seeded desires to be a part of something really big and important.  And guess what?  God is all about big and important stuff.  God doesn’t have an inferiority complex.  Every act of love and hope and faith is important…. And it is big.  It is big because too much of the world has too little love and hope and faith.  And God wants you to be an important part of putting more love, hope and faith into the world.

Starting September 8^th, I will be preaching a series called ‘Bigger Than You’.  Each Sunday will describe from different perspectives how your life and the life of the community can crisscross and create something that you could never do by yourself.  There is a synergy about church life.  Don’t know what synergy is?  (hint:  2+2=8).  Come find out.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe