June 30, 2009
Survival of the Fittest
Whether as an individual, or as a church, we’re all feeling the pinch of the current economic situation. One church reported, “…we have cut many of our ministry budgets by 50% effectively immediately. We are not a staff who believes that money is the key to ministry...” With all due respect to being frugal, I’m not sure how an ongoing ministry survives an immediate 50% cut in their funding. Maybe there are some positives here. This tightening of the belt could result in volunteers looking for new places to serve. I suppose we could also view this as a sort of pruning of ministries…and we know how the Lord feels about pruning.
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Gail;
-----Success in any endeavor is like a desert flower; its opportunities are limited and must not be missed; its hazards are many and must be avoided. It wilts quickly beneath a pounding sun, but it will find moisture wherever the ground formations store it. It does not seek to survive where it can not grow, but it finds shelter and nourishment from an intimate partnership with its environment.
-----The success of the church is like the desert flower in its opportunities and hazards. Although the economic environment may turn hazardous, there are always formations that will nourish a good flowering. The hotter the sun beats upon the ground, the more intimately in tune with circumstances the church must become. The more the environment’s nourishing elements dry up, the more the church must trim back to its basic function.
-----Cutting some program budgets are just what the church needs for the programs spinning only cotton candy. It’s sweet, it tastes good, and it’s fun to eat, but it is not wholly relevant for health or survival. The wise flowers will not only spend their energy making attractiveness, but will also spend energy affecting their environment. The morning glory spreads its vines over the ground not only to follow the moisture and propagate, but also to shelter the ground for the retention of its moisture. The Lord’s body was left in the world not just to preach Jesus, but also to effect the social environment by its proper treatment of fellow men. It is to be the salt of the earth.
-----Too many churches of the last century abandoned the wisdom of the Word in their proliferation. They wanted to preach Jesus only, as if the flower was the only necessary part of the plant. The social wisdom of the Word was not given proper shelter by them, and the wisdom in the ground below dried up. Certainly they produced the face of Jesus all around, but the intricacy of what they needed to thrive was let to ever so slowly shift. Surely they were wise in their own ways and found bits and pieces of the Word which appeared to support their own wisdom, but the Word’s subtle instruction for intimately maintaining the oasis was above their ability to comprehend. And now the tips of their roots are beginning to touch dry dirt.
-----It may seem like maintaining an organization with a building having a nice cross on its roof will serve Jesus. It may seem like our collective efforts are required to do anything for Him. It may seem like unity in goals, ambitions, and programs alone will further the kingdom. But the subtle truth about the individual relationship with Jesus is too intricate for an organization to comprehend. Service to the Lord is only in genuineness, and genuineness enters the church one heart at a time. Each member has a function and must be free to perform it without organizational constraints, and will perform it regardless of organizational poverty.
-----Instead of holding tightly to this concept, the church eventually absorbed the philosophy of the world: come together, now, over me. Instead of influencing society towards the relevance, freedom, and responsibility of the individual, it has absorbed from the world the relevance, guidance, and provision of the organization. The once humid economic environment that is now so parched for the church was not developed by a controlling organization. It grew from the productive hands of responsible individuals having in their hearts good will towards others. This is more important than program budgets. The church must relearn it so its individuals can teach it again to society. When good will towards all again becomes the responsibility of individuals rather than of the government, moisture will return to the ground.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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