As a church leader, I am often challenged by the question: If our church would cease to exist, how much would the community really miss us? In other words, What kind of contribution are we making to the Washington Island community?
Well, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania actually tried to measure what a church is worth to its community in purely financial terms. His name is Ram Cnaan. He considers himself nonreligious, but he discovered that on average, every year, one inner-city church contributed $476,663.24 to the local economy. This was according to a survey done in 2009.
Just last year (2011), his survey concluded that one church alone, First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, contributed over $6,000,000 a year to the local economy (more than ten times its annual budget). Based on Cnaan's research, some of First Baptist's financial contributions include:
Volunteer hours worked: $94,770 (weekly hours x 52 weeks x $20.25)
Reduced crime rate: a reduction of $64,416 (crimes within neighborhood compared with surrounding neighborhoods x $2,210)
Getting people off drugs and alcohol: $78,750 ($15,750 per person helped)
Building enhancements/Capital campaign: $60,000 (estimates that half of expenses are spent locally)
Helping people gain employment: $725,000 ($14,500 per arranged employment)
Suicide prevention: $58,800 ($19,600 per person saved through clergy intervention)
Divorces prevented: $22,500 ($900 per couple)
K-12 School: $3,489,926 (# of students x $9,666) (“Briefing: What's a Congregation Worth?” Christianity Today, April, 2011; www.PreachingToday.com)
Now, that’s fine for a big church in a big city like Philadelphia, but what about a small church like ours in a little community like Washington Island (population 600)? Can we have a significant impact in a place like this; and if so, How? How can a little church like ours make a big impact on its community? How can we be the kind of church that people will really appreciate not only here, but in places far away from here?
Well, the Apostle Paul was constantly grateful for a little church in a little town miles away from any of the important towns in the western part of what we know today as Turkey. In fact, it’s a church that Paul never visited, but he says in his letter to that church, “We always thank God… when we pray for you.”
That letter is our book of Colossians in the New Testament, and if you have your Bibles I invite you to turn with me to this little book written to a little church in a little community, the book of Colossians, chapter 1, Colossians, chapter 1, where we learn how we, like they, can have a big impact even here in a little place like this.
Colossians 1:1-8 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. (NIV)
If we want to be the kind of church that people will really appreciate, for which people will thank God every time they think of us, if we want to be that kind of church, then we must…
TRUST THE SAVIOR.
We must depend on the one and only Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We must put our faith in Him and live out that faith so that it is noticed and others hear about it. In verse 3, Paul says, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have HEARD of your faith in Christ Jesus…” That means that they not only believed in Jesus, but that their faith was noticeable. People HEARD about it!!
Pastor Steve May talks about trying to buy a banjo while he was in Brazil, even though his limited knowledge of Portuguese made shopping a challenge. He also had a limited knowledge of the Brazilian banjo, which is much smaller than the American banjo and has fewer strings. It wasn’t much on which to base a purchasing decision, but Pastor Steve went looking anyway.
“There are plenty of music stores in downtown Rio de Janeiro,” Steve says, “but, unfortunately, the salesmen knew as little about the instrument as me.” Most didn't even know how to tune it, let alone play it. They just pointed at one on the shelf and told Steve the price. He made a stab at playing one, but it was an awful noise. “Must not be a very good banjo,” he reasoned.
So Pastor Steve visited three or four shops. And with each stop, he found himself a little less inclined to buy. Then he found the right place. The salesman knew a little English, and more importantly, he knew the banjo. He grabbed one off the shelf – the same make Steve had seen earlier – and the salesman began to make the little instrument sing. He showed Steve how to tune it, he showed him a few chords, and he had a good instructional book to get Steve started. The longer the salesman played, the more Steve began to believe that he, too, could play the banjo, so Steve shelled out the money.
Now, that banjo didn’t sell itself, and a poorly demonstrated banjo is even more difficult to sell. Steve says, “The truth is, as much as I wanted a banjo, I would have gone home empty handed that afternoon if I hadn't found someone who could get me started in the right direction.
That’s the way it is with our faith in Christ. When others see us living out our faith, they glimpse the difference Christianity can make in a person’s life, and they long to experience that difference for themselves. (Steve May, Sermonnotes.com; www.PreachingToday.com)
If we want to be a blessing to others, and have a big impact, then we must trust the Savior; and in dependence upon Him, live out our faith. More than that, if we want to be the kind of church that people really appreciate, then we must also…
LOVE THE SAINTS.
We must love one another in the church. We must care for each other, no matter who it is.
Paul says, “We always thank God… because we have heard (vs.4)… of the love you have for ALL the saints.” Now, in the city of Colossae, that would include both Jewish AND Gentile believers in Jesus. There was a large Jewish community in what was mostly a Gentile area, so it is quite likely that people from both cultures were in the same little church. Now, that probably led to some interesting church suppers where pork was served along with kosher food. At the very least, their differing cultures made it difficult to get along, but somehow they did it! They loved ALL the saints!
And that’s what we must do if we want to have a big impact on our community. We must love one another, even those with whom we might have some differences. We must love one another, young or old. We must love one another, including those who like Bach or Rock. We must love ALL the saints if people are going to be grateful for Bethel Church.
In November 2002, Time magazine carried an interesting story about former President George H. W. Bush. It described a trip he took back to the South Pacific. During World War II, Bush had been a bomber pilot, and was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire. The article detailed Bush's return to the very spot where he was rescued from his downed aircraft.
During his return visit, Bush met with a Japanese gentleman who claimed to have witnessed Bush's rescue back in 1944. The man related that as he and others were watching the rescue take place, one of the man's friends remarked, “Surely America will win the war if they care so much for the life of one pilot.” (Time Magazine, Canadian Edition, 11-23-02; www.PreachingToday. com)
Love makes an impact even on our enemies in a time of war, and a small church like ours is uniquely suited to demonstrate that love.
The Oakland Church of the Brethren is a little church, located just half a block away from the Hell’s Angels headquarters in Oakland, California. Even so, their size and location didn’t deter them. In fact, they understood very clearly the impact they could have in their neighborhood BECAUSE of their small size. This is how they expressed it in one of their church newsletters some time ago: “In a big world, the small church has remained intimate. In a fast world, the small church has been steady. In an expensive world, the small church has remained plain. In a complex world, the small church has remained simple. In a rational world, the small church has kept feeling. In a mobile world, the small church has been an anchor. In an anonymous world, the small church calls us by name.” (“Oakland Church of the Brethren Newsletter,” Leadership, Vol. 3, no. 3; www.PreachingToday.com)
In a word, the small church CARES; and therein, lies its greatest strength. My dear friends, if our little church wants to have a big impact, then we must not only trust the Savior, we must also love the saints; we must love ALL the saints.
But how do we get this kind of faith and love? How does a church like ours acquire this dynamic dependence and captivating compassion, which others find so attractive? Well, look again at verse 5
Colossians 1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel… (NIV)
Faith and love come from the HOPE we have in the Gospel. You see, the key to it all is our HOPE. The key to it all is the confident assurance we have in the good news of a glorious future for anyone who trusts Christ. That’s because Christ died for our sins and rose again to make it all possible. HOPE is the key! So if we want to be the kind of church that people really appreciate, we must first and foremost put our…
HOPE IN THE CERTAINTY OF THE GOSPEL.
We must have a confident assurance that what God promised us is real. We must live in the sure expectation of the rich treasures stored up for us in heaven.
My dear believing friends, look forward to your future, and live in certain anticipation of all that God has for you. For that kind of attitude is certainly a whole lot more attractive than all the negativity and pessimism that seems to permeate our world these days. And that kind of attitude will actually help you trust the Savior and love the saints all the more.
I like the way Warren Wiersbe put it in his commentary on the book of Colossians. There, he says, “I have noticed that the prospect of a future happiness has a way of making people love one another more. Have you ever watched children just before Christmas or a family vacation? The bright promise of heaven encourages our faith and expands our love. Then faith and love work together to make the present more enjoyable and the future more exciting.” (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Victor Books, 1989)
I wish I’d have said that. Wiersbe put it so well! Hope encourages our faith and expands our love, which makes us a whole lot more fun to be around. It’s really the only way a little church like ours can have a big impact.
Look forward to your future, and then share that hope with others. Let your hope in the gospel bear fruit and grow. That’s what happened in the first century church and even in the little church at Colossae!
Colossians 1:6-8 All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. (NIV)
Epaphras was the man who brought the hope of the Gospel to the little town of Colossae. Then when people put their trust in Christ, he gathered the new believers together and helped them grow in their faith. He was their pastor, and they “learned” from him, verse 7 says. Literally, they were “discipled” by him. So much so that the Gospel of God’s grace bore fruit in their lives and others came to faith in Christ as well.
They didn’t keep this hope to themselves. As Epaphras shared it with them, they shared it with others, and God used them to help grow the influence of the Gospel around the world!
And that’s what we must do if we want our little church to have a big impact on others. We must not only look forward to the future with hope. We must share that hope with others. We must teach others the grace of God as we have been taught.
When Donald Trump’s TV reality show, The Apprentice, first aired in 2004, I couldn’t miss a single episode. It was the top-ranked new TV series with over 20 million viewers, and it featured 16 people who were competing to be Donald Trump’s apprentice and oversee one of his many projects. Week after week, one unworthy contestant heard the words, “You’re Fired!” and walked off the set.
In the last episode, there were only two competitors left sitting across from Donald Trump at an opulent boardroom table. One was Kwame, a polished Harvard MBA, and the other was Troy, a business-savvy risk-taker without a college education. They had earned their places among the final two contestants, but one still had to go.
Trump turned to Troy and said, “Troy in reality we're dealing with multibillion dollar companies here. The consequences of hiring a live wire like you could be costly and devastating. So I have to say, you're fired!” You could see the huge disappointment on Troy’s face. (The Price Is Height, The Apprentice: The Complete First Season, DVD disk 4, scene 4, 00:39:27 - 00:39:45, www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s very different than the scene we have presented here in Colossians 1. Here, our hope is not based in our own abilities. It is based on God’s grace (vs.6), His undeserved and unmerited favor.
It’s like Jesus is in the opulent boardroom of heaven. He turns to us and says, “In reality, we're dealing with something far greater than multibillion dollar businesses here. We're talking about the salvation of the world. The consequences of hiring someone like you could be costly and devastating. So I have to say, you're hired!”
In a world full of un-grace, Jesus gives grace; and He wants to use us to spread the hope of heaven around the world.
You see, very few people see the potential of such a church as ours, but God does! God in his grace saved us from our sins when we put our trust in Christ. Now, God in his grace has hired us to be his apprentices, his representatives, to oversee his project of saving our world.
Can we do it? Yes! By God’s grace we can! A little church like ours can have a big impact if we trust the Savior, love the saints, and put our hope in the certainty of the Gospel. Look forward to your future, and then share that hope with others.
During the darkest days of World War II, Great Britain faced a critical shortage of silver. When Winston Churchill was told, he asked his advisors if they knew of any place they might find some silver, however remote. After some thought, they told him, “Yes, the churches, cathedrals, and abbeys have beautiful, sterling silver statues of the saints.” To which Churchill replied, “Well, it's time to put the saints into circulation!” And so they did. (John S. Barnett, “Saints in Circulation,” Discipleship Journal March/April 1986; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, these are dark days indeed, especially for those who have no hope in Christ. Well, it’s time to put the saints into circulation. Go forth with hearts full of faith, love and hope; and by God’s grace make a difference in your world this week.
