Priorities

October 28, 2011

Last week I was at a retreat with other young clergy and the subject of priorities came up. Since then several committee leaders within my congregation came to me very upset that my priorities were wrong because I was not a part of their committee and I was choosing to begin cell groups instead of investing my time into their committee. And that THEIR committee was “the committee that would revitalize the church and was where the action in church was coming from.”

For those of you who aren’t too busy laughing at that last statement let me say this: I have never seen a committee revitalize a church. I have seen them kill a church but never grow a church.

What does grow a church is relationship. Relationships are not built, created, nurtured, or defined in committees. They are built by people doing life together. If that is the priority of the church then some committees won’t have the pastor at them, but it will mean that the church will grow because everyone is busy building a relationship.

Do you believe a group/committee/super-committee can revitalize a church? If you do, I am convinced you are wrong. When I read my Bible I see Jesus who is building relationships with people and inviting others to create relationships with people and when people try to do something other than build relationships Jesus gets upset.

Attempting to make a committee the main function of a church creates an organization mentality that only exists to keep the organization going.

When I read the Bible I see that the church is not an organization, it is a living organism. It is an organism that exists to grow and bring others into it. It is living, moving, changing, evolving, and if we aren’t careful it will die.

So maybe my priorities are wrong, maybe a committee will revitalize the church. OR MAYBE building relationships and doing life with other people will revitalize the church.

Leave me a comment with your thoughts?