What's it all about church?

Many years ago now I attended a workshop at an evangelism conference that focused on reaching young people. It was almost twenty five years ago but I still remember the workshop leader’s name and I can recite the main verse of his text from Ezekiel chapter 3 by heart:

‘I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.’

Whenever I risk getting a little down on myself and begin to doubt my ministry and calling, I recall those words from Ezekiel and give myself a swift upper cut and get back to things. I am an evangelist and teacher. There may be times when some will think I am not very good at either, and that’s okay because I am not here to pander to others, but rather to serve an audience of one.

Another key verse for me is in Luke 19: ‘For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

I am really good with ‘exiles’ and ‘lost’ people and not so good with those who are already found, because I see the lost as the work of the church and the found need to be about that work.

Ezekiel was called to ministry among his own people. God was kind and made sure that he was well equipped: ‘See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead.

I was reminded this week of the ‘Liverpool kiss’. If you are a Scot it can be known as the Glasgow kiss also. In fact it was a Scot who tried it out on me one day during a soccer match. We had been having a good tussle all day and at one point, late in the game, my opponent grabbed me by the shirt and clearly was about to administer his trade mark love tap to my nose. Now, I am not fond of pain and in positions of danger my reflexes used to work really well. As his head powered forward I dropped mine and our foreheads collided. I was okay but my friend lay at my feet bordering on unconscious! God gave me a hard head.

He also gave me a soft heart and particularly soft for those who – in church parlance – are lost. You see, I was lost for a long time and I know the feeling. In fact while the lostness has long gone I still retain a good memory of these times and it is that which continually shapes my ministry.

I still like to sit among the exiles and very often I am stunned in their presence. Oh, many play a good game; but you see I played that game as well. I could probably have captained the team; I was that good. There are different things that tell about being lost. Eyes are windows into people’s world and it is hard cover the feelings of being lost and empty. Mouths are clues to people’s worlds as well. We try to cover being lost with clever words, loud words, deceitful words or insulting words. Of course it is not just the ‘lost’ that suffer from these symptoms.

When I begin to tire of church budgets, Occupational Health type stuff, property and meetings for this or that matter - When feelings of disappointment, disillusion and/or any other dis’s I might think of, begin to invade my territory; I remember the exiled and I remember my gifting and call.

The call is not mine alone; it is the central call of our lives as Christ followers. If we follow Christ then He will lead us to serve with him among the exiles. It is in our DNA. We can do no less.