Question: Why is it important to have concern for the whole city when my church keeps me busy enough?
Concern means being able to relate to or even connect people with Christ in our community. This is and should be important to the church. In our culture, church busyness can and will keep us from any kind of outward reach connection to Christ. This kind of busy can be overloaded with unnecessary appointments and meetings which are usually inward focused on those who are already saved. We the church need an outward focus on the unsaved. Our concern should be for those who are not connected to Christ.
Matthew 28:16-20 – our call is to go out with the authority that Jesus gave to everyone that believes. Go train them, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Those we encounter who do not know Jesus should be asking who is this Jesus you speak of, and how does he relate to my life? This is why it is important to be concerned about the whole city. Our participation in the outward movement of Jesus Loves Kalamazoo cannot be challenged by church busyness. There are people who need us to be concerned about their souls. Do you have a heart for the people of this City? Are you willing to be self-sacrificing? Even if this means you no longer keep busy at your own church?
My hope as I write this is that you are challenged to look at your own participation in this movement. Church busyness does not equal effectiveness. Discipleship equals effectiveness. Do not buy into the thought that busyness equals value either. We all love to be needed. We love being problem-solvers and crisis counselors. We feel important when we have a lot to do. Busyness is not effectiveness. Is your church busyness actually hindering the movement of God in our City? Is it keeping the members of your church from those outside they should be interacting with for Jesus? We need to redo our thinking on Mathew 28. We cannot define our ministry success by our church busyness.
-Yolanda Stewart, Vanguard North & the JLK Vision Team