United We Stand
The tension on the field was palpable. Both teams fought for every yard, play by play. The crowd in the stands raised a deafening cheer with every first down and with every hard-won point added to the board. Then it happened. On a breakaway play, a wide receiver went long, deep into the enemy’s territory. Despite pressure from defensive tackles rushing around him, the quarterback found his man and launched a beautiful pass that fell safely into the extended hands of his receiver who burned every ounce of adrenaline to elude two pursuers for the most exciting touchdown of the game. It was a beautifully executed play. Caught up in the moment, I leapt to my feet, applauding, and was about to let out a loud cheer when I noticed… that I was standing alone. Everyone around me was silent. The touchdown was for the other team.
Local churches are like that. We’re all in the same game, trying to advance God’s ball to the somewhat different goals that God has given us. Despite our shared faith and calling, we are so fearful of the other team getting ahead of us that we can’t find the will to applaud their success. When a neighboring church makes a breakaway play we jealously despise their triumphal moment. We sit quietly, usually without comment or, sometimes, with a derogatory complaint. We mistakenly believe that we are competing against each other. After all, there are only so many fish to fry, only so many people in the town where we live who are potential members and tithers. We have to fight for every living, breathing person. Don’t we? We have to fight for every inch of the field.
I wonder sometimes about small churches that won’t send people to the training events sponsored by larger, more successful, churches. I wonder about churches that send mission teams to assist Christians halfway around the world but that won’t support a local mission with whatever resources it needs. I wonder about senior pastors who won’t take the time to build a friendship with the senior pastors of neighboring churches and to partner with them in community ministry.
Consider two renegades.
One senior pastor each year hosts a community “Good Friday Worship Service” in which pastors from seven local churches are invited to speak over a period of several hours. Each pastor addresses one of the seven last words of Christ in a fifteen-minute homily after a musician or group from his church has led everyone in a song. The host pastor assumes the risk that his congregants might find the preaching or music of a neighboring church more appealing. They might leave and go there to worship. But they don’t. His congregation is thriving.
Another senior pastor of a large successful church befriended the pastors of three small nearby churches. One Sunday, during a series on “unity” he invited all three of them to his worship service where they were seated on the platform. He introduced them, and then asked them to talk about their vision for their churches. Graciously, the senior pastor invited his church members to visit one of their churches and to consider joining it. Then he prayed for his friends. How did this affect his church? Not at all. His worship attendance remained the same; weekly giving didn’t drop. What he gained was the perception that he was a selfless, generous, warm-hearted senior pastor who is as interested in the success of the Kingdom of Heaven as he in the success of his own church.
The Bible underscores that our success is enhanced by viewing ministry differently than opposing teams view each other on a football field. Search for “churches” in your Bible and you will find numerous references to growing churches collaborating in the progress of the gospel. There is an intrinsic cause-effect relationship between the Spiritual unity of doctrine and mission and the Spiritual blessing of growth and prosperity. (Psalm 133:1-3)
So what was the outcome of my embarrassing moment in the stands? Our team won the game. Of course, we would have won anyway—even if everyone had stood to celebrate the other team’s solitary moment of glory.
