Day 21. Protecting Your Church

Day 21. Protecting Your Church

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church meets every four years, this time in Dallas in April. It is a denomination whose church in America is split down the middle on the “hot button” issues of the day. Unfortunately, the General Conference has become a time we focus on our differences instead of our unity. Rick Warren’s requirement that each member covenant to protect the church would be helpful. The spirit in which differences are addressed might be quite different.

So too in the local church. All of our gatherings, from small groups to administrative councils need to be steeped in the unity of Christ. Too often our “business meetings” take on a secular flavor instead of making space for the Spirit to move the group toward the mission of the church “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Scott Peck noted that one of reasons that the church fails to build community is that it is no longer the center of people’s lives, the workplace is. As Warren pointed out earlier, fellowship requires frequency. Therefore, when we gather, we need to take advantage of every opportunity by steeping all of our gatherings in grace. Even administrative meetings, eg trustees or council, should strive for one-third prayer, praise, Scripture and devotion. Peck said, “community building succeeds, in part, precisely because it takes God into mind, depends on [him], and deliberately produces space for the Holy Spirit to do her thing.”1 Peck reminds us that this will never happen if parties to the group are bent on controlling the outcome. The Holy Spirit doesn’t work that way.

I commend to you again, Thomas Hawkins, who instructs in his book, The Christian Small Group Leader, that every meeting needs to be led as a priestly task and every table as the Lord’s table.2 How our gatherings would change if with every agenda item and every conversation began with the reminder, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

May you all find blessings in community.

Rick

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1 M. Scott Peck, A World Waiting to be Reborn: Civility Rediscovered, (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), page 349.

2 Thomas R. Hawkins, The Christian Small Group Leader, (Nashville: Discipleship Resources), page 6-7.