[“Church Without…” is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we’ve erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.]
The scarcest resource in most churches isn’t material: it’s human.
Sure, every church thinks it needs more money, more tech, more things, but really, they mostly need more servants.
Jesus didn’t encourage the disciples to pray for a bigger budget in order to accomplish the harvest. He told them to ask God for more workers to enter the field. (Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2)
Many churches have gaps when it comes to harvesting the lost, and they often look to new programs, new projects, new technologies in order to fill them.
But through Scripture, we see that God has always relied upon human beings to stand in the gap, and when the time came, He sent Jesus, the God-Man, to stand in the gap between a God and ourselves.
Does your church have gaps? Look first at your people. Are they serving? If they aren’t, have you asked? If you’ve asked to no avail, have you communicated the gospel truth that we are called to stand in the small gaps, just as our Elder Brother stood in the great gap between God and man?
Your people are God’s children, but they are also His servants. Remind them of this in a loving, invitational way. Remind them that they have been born again into a new family, a new way of life where “others” are to be countered as equal to or better than oneself. We are in a family that fills gaps; it’s inherent to our new nature to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
So whether the gaps are in the ministry inside the church or in the flow of outsiders into the church, we are the ones to fill them.
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