What's A Church For?

Ever hear of 'Market Myopia’? It’s a term used in marketing for the mistake that companies make when they are short-sighted and focus on their own wants and preferences as opposed to seeing the big picture and understanding what the purpose of their business is.

For example, the railroad people didn’t realize they were in the transportation business; they thought they were in the railroad business. Had they realized they were in the transportation business they would have invested in the airplane. The telegraph people thought they were in the telegraph business instead of the communications business. In 1886 or so, they could have bought all the telephone patents for $40,000. So obviously these people didn’t know what business they were in. In recent years with the rapid changes in technology, many companies have been driven out of business for that very reason.

And I think it’s a big problem in the church.

Most Christians have no idea what a church is for. So they focus on their personal preferences, fight about silly disagreements, jockey for influence, complain, criticize one another, pout when they don’t get their way, busy themselves in a flurry of empty activity. All because they don’t know what they are in existence for. But when they get that figured out and everyone rallies around the mission, everything changes.

But Jesus made it pretty clear. Just before he left the earth, after spending three years teaching and training this small group who would become the leadership team of the first church, he met with them for some final words. These were his marching orders. This is what he was telling them the church was supposed to do:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

This was what Jesus was all about. From the day he met the first disciples he told them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” He always taught his followers to look outside of themselves and reach out to others. He said, “Look unto the fields. They are white and ready for harvest.” He did not say, “I have come that you might have life.” He said, I have come that they might have life,” because he wanted his followers to be thinking of others. While he was with them he sent them out on a training mission two by two. And what were they to do? Proclaim the Gospel. When he first spoke of the church to them, here’s what he said, “The gates of hell will not hold up against it!” In other words, the church was to be attacking the gates of hell––proclaiming the gospel and pulling people from the fire (as Jude put it).

That’s what a church is for. If we rally around that mission, pour ourselves into accomplishing what is dearest to the heart of Jesus, and arrange everything in the church around that goal, everything else will take care of itself. We’ll worship with more sincerity. We’ll fellowship with greater love and forgiveness. We’ll listen to the Word more intently. We’ll get along better and we’ll accomplish more.

So let’s do this together! Let’s be what Jesus envisioned the church to be. His visible body in a world that desperately needs to see him. Let’s pour ourselves into making disciples.