My family and I, for years, have been members of the “711 Club.” The club is on Virginia route 711, known now as Huguenot Trail, and membership is limited to forty families. We paid the joining fee, we take care of our dues (pay them or I “work” them off), and we enjoy the benefits of membership. Or more accurately, we enjoy the benefit of members: use of the pool from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We spend time there each summer, I frequently help out by cleaning or cutting the grass, and it is a summertime activity for my family and me to enjoy. Membership has its privileges: use of the pool.
That’s how a club works, you join, pay your dues, and you enjoy what that club has to offer to its members. Non-members may be invited to join, but if you’re not a member you are not welcome to enjoy the benefits of membership. That’s how it works.
The church is not a club, but it is easy for “club-thinking” to creep into the church. Everything the church does, just like everything Jesus did, is for everyone, members and non-members alike. The church is called to live in an “others first” paradigm. Sometimes, the “others” may be members in the church who are simply not you. Another person. Sometimes, the “others” may be people who have not yet been to May Memorial. Sometimes “others” may be those who visit from time to time or a little more regularly, but have not yet joined. Others.
This does not mean that we aren’t aware of needed practical practices that allow us to operate in an orderly, safe, and faithful manner.
But I wonder, when I pull up to a Tuesday night meeting at the church in the middle of July and families are parking in our lot for their kids to play little league, and I think about what Jesus would do, should I have the attitude that says “this is the church’s parking lot, don’t park in my space?” Or, would Jesus give them the better space?
This idea can transform the way we view church. What if we are called to a people that is a blessing to our community? What if we are less concerned with being the best church in Powhatan but rather the best church for Powhatan? What if we want our actions to answer the prayer “Thy kingdom come on earth in Powhatan as it is in heaven?” What if God intends to bless our community through us, in such a way that individuals are invited into what God is doing in us?
The Wednesday night meal is not our meal…
The annual picnic and jazz concert is not our picnic…
The Halloween festival is not our festival…
It is really not our parking lot, or fellowship hall, or sanctuary, it is all entrusted to our stewardship by God so that we may use it in such a way that His kingdom will come in Powhatan.