Thermometer or Thermostat?

This Sunday, the Church celebrates another time of Pentecost. This is the Sunday we remember the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit starting with the disciples. This is a good time to remember how and why the Church came into existence. Today, the church of Jesus Christ has been described as the bride of Christ and the body of Christ. It has also been called a community of believers, a mission station, and a house of prayer. But, my favorite description for the church was coined in the 1960’s by Dr. Martin Luther King from the Birmingham jail. In a letter to other clergy who were trying to silence him, Dr. King described the Church of Jesus Christ in this way:

“There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed in. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators’. But they went on with the conviction that they were a ‘colony of heaven’, and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought to an end such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. Things are different now. The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”

I believe that every Pentecost, we, as the Church, especially as Good News is entering into a new chapter, should ask ourselves one question: Is our church a thermostat or just another thermometer? Or, maybe a better question is that after remembering how and why the Church came into existence, what should it be?

Our Chance to Really RETHINK Church

After eight years, Good News is finally going to have a worship space to call its own. As you know by now, the Leadership of the church decided to take the bold and courageous step of moving our worship from Block House Creek Elementary School to the Railyard. A decision that means no more set-up and take-down every Sunday. But this step forward in the life of the church means more than just not having to stack our chairs after the final song and getting to lunch earlier.

One of the members of the Leadership Team said that just because the visibility is better at the new location doesn’t mean more people will come and worship with us. He said, “We’ve got to do something different or it doesn’t matter where we meet.” I couldn’t agree more because I think that this is what's at the heart of Psalm 127:1 where it says:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Psalm 127:1

God put Good News in Cedar Park and Leander for a reason. And, I believe we are all here for a reason. It is time for us to let God do the building and for us to stop laboring in vain. Our new move gives us the chance to shift our focus from playing church to being the church. To focus on who and why we worship instead of how and who doesn’t come to worship. To focus on becoming better disciples and growing in God’s grace. It gives us the opportunity to invite and attract more people to encounter the risen Christ for themselves and build up the kingdom of God.

Church has been about “build it and they will come.” To rethink church is about people coming because it is God they find when they come into the building. It’s time to rethink church. Let’s let God start building His kingdom through the work of Good News United Methodist Church. As members, let’s begin by inviting people to experience not our music, or our preacher, or our new worship center. Let’s invite people instead to experience our God and His grace.

Good News has come to a very exciting point in its history. And I'm not just talking about the new worship space. Enough talk... it's time to get to work.