Dear Family in Christ,

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Here’s a little quote by William Temple that came across my Facebook feed, “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”  He served as the Archbishop of Canterbury during WWII. 

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According to the apostle Paul, we as church form the body of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians, chapter 12; Romans, chapter 2; Ephesians, chapter 1; and Colossians, chapter 1.) Jesus said, “28… the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

 

Taken together, if we as church are indeed the body of Christ, and as Jesus said he came not to be served but to serve, shouldn’t we ask ourselves, why are we here? Are we here to benefit ourselves? No. We are here as church, as the body of Christ, to do what Jesus would be doing in the world today! So, the quote from Archbishop Temple makes sense, the church exists to benefit others, not ourselves. 

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But we do enjoy the benefits of being church. Everything we do as church, such as our worship and fellowship, strengthens our faith, and thus equips us to go out into the world as ministers to serve others, just as Jesus served others.  Our worship, fellowship, and Christian education, and all the things we do among us, prepares us to serve in the world today as Christ modeled for us 2000 years ago.  As Jesus fed the hungry, so too we are called to feed the hungry.  So, our largest outreach ministry is the Parma Hunger Center. But is there more we can do to feed the hungry? Some congregations periodically offer sit down hot meals for their less fortunate neighbors.  Why can’t we do that in our fellowship hall on a weekly, or monthly basis?

 

God has blessed us with this large building. But a large part of it sits unused. Let us meditate and pray on the question: How might we better use this building and our God given resources to serve others?  The first thing that popped into my mind was the fact that the closest senior center from our location is 5.1 miles, 16 minutes, away.  That’s a long way for many seniors. We COULD make our south wing into a senior center! What about our upstairs? It sits empty and mostly unused! How might we use the upstairs for outreach ministry? What other ministry ideas might you have for our unused and/or underutilized spaces?

 

Like many families whose children have grown up and moved away, we too must ask ourselves how we might keep the house and continue to live in it. To do that we must be good stewards by coming up with a plan to keep this church building clean and in good repair, and figure how to pay for it, and how to use it to the glory of God! As the body of Christ, called to serve as Jesus served, we must fully utilize all our resources for ministries and outreach for which Jesus calls us!  What ideas do you have to use this building for ministries? Let the Holy Spirit speak through you with ideas to do the ministries Jesus has called us to do. 

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Journeying with you Christ,
Pastor Jay