The Target

Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages, come one, come all!  Take your seats and prepare to see the most amazing and frightening performance of your lives.  As I blindfold myself and ready my throwing knives, my lovely assistant shall step up to the wheel and I will demonstrate the object lesson of today’s blog.  I recommend that those with delicate constitutions step out of the room as we perform this death defying trick. 

I used to love circus acts like that: the pretty lady spinning on the wheel while the blindfolded man throws razor sharp blades at her.  There was a sense of suspense, a tempting titillation, and a delicious desire for danger.  There was even a secret macabre hope that you just might see some blood.

Over the years, this act has lost its delight as I see it played out in the real world of ministry.  There are many things that are absolutely wonderful about leading a ministry, but there is one significant drawback that I’d like to share.  Being a ministry leader makes you the person spinning on the target.

There just never seems to be a lack of people who are willing to tell you what they think you are doing wrong or telling you how they want you to be doing things.  There is always someone willing to tell you how they believe you could have done better.  Perhaps you should have said __________ in your sermon.  Or, I don’t think that we should do __________ as a church.  Or, your church should be doing __________ type of ministry.  I don’t think we should play __________ type of music.

Often, these are couched as ‘suggestions’ by well-meaning people, but then they are hurt when you don’t take their suggestion, or if you offer a different point-of-view.  What’s even more common, the person giving the advice usually isn't even actively involved in the ongoing ministry of the church.  They just sit there and snipe at the pastor, music leader, elders, or other ministry leaders.  I have even had new people, after their first or second visit, tell me what they thought was wrong with me or our church, or even other churches.  I can even go further in saying that the people most likely to make these types of suggestions are the ones who are least likely to show evidence of an active and growing discipleship.

I write this piece, not to whine about how things are, or to grumble and complain; I write this to offer a better way.  (no, I don’t miss the irony here, I am suggesting another way of doing things, but the difference is, I am committed to being involved and living this out myself.)

1.       Encourage those in ministry.  Pray for them.  The jobs are difficult, the pay is low, and they are working very hard.  They love what they do, but it can be mental and spiritually draining to be criticized all the time.

2.       Instead of suggesting that ‘the church should do __________,’ as if ‘the Church’ somehow is an entity outside ofyou.  Why don’t you volunteer to make something happen.  Offer to do the fundraising, solicit and train volunteers, and make the ministry happen. 

3.       If you felt something was left out of the sermon or that it could be said another way, why don’t you go back and listen to what was actually there, instead of what you wish was there.  Perhaps the message had a different intent to it that you can learn something from.

4.       If you are focused on the type of music instead of the message of the music and the purpose of worship, then perhaps it is time to look at your own selfish desires and retrain them on God instead of on yourself. 

5.       Refocus your faith.  You should be serving God and serving His community, not being served by the church.  If you have been at your church more than a few months, you should be volunteering and becoming an active part of the family instead of being a passive consumer.   Church is not a business that sells a product to you, but a family, a body of people who work together towards God’s goals, not their own.

This isn’t to take anything away from the active, serving believer who offers gentle truth, a graceful critique, or sees a way to improve ministry and is willing to get their hands dirty to make a difference.  We need more of this and less of the other type.

It is time to take a hard look at how we do church.  In fact, let’s not do church anymore.  Let’s BE the church!  Let’s get rid of the petty, old-school ways of churchianity and begin living as selfless, loving, merciful, joyful, grace-filled servants of Jesus.   How powerful could it be if everyone in the small local church took the personal responsibility to serve and not to be served?  What if all of us decided to put our faith in action in the local community and not wait to be catered to? 

What could happen if each one of us gave sacrificially of our time, money, and abilities instead of waiting for someone else to do it?  Imagine a church where every single member was actively serving in a ministry that God called them to, regularly giving to God’s work, and committed to building a vibrant, loving, and welcoming community where those outside the church could come and encounter a safe place to seek God.

Perhaps that’s the target we should be aiming at.