Community-Hearted

Your church has a postal code.  It is situated at some crossroad in your community.   Suppose one day you spend an hour or so at a local cafe near your church.   You don't go there to have your soy double shot latte.   Oh, you might order a coffee, but you are there to ask people walking by one question.  This question:   "What impact has name of your church made on your life and name of your community?"   If you spoke with 100 people, would there be 50 who tell you the difference your church has made in their lives, or  that of your community?   Would there be 20?   Would there be anybody?   If your church no longer existed on the corner of street address, would anybody notice?   Would your church be missed?

We have been considering the Biblical values that shape the culture of the CRCA, a contemporary, Reformed, gospel-focused denomination.   We have already looked at the values of being contemporary Reformed (confessional and contextual), Word-based, and gospel-focused.   Being gospel-focused is a value that is multi-faceted.   That is why we considered the ideas of being kingdom-orientated, outward-looking, evangelistic, and disciple-making.  There is one last facet that we need to consider, and that is being community-hearted.

One phrase that has resonated with me in the church where my wife Jeannie and I make our home are these words:   "We are to be difference makers in our community!"   At first I thought that this phrase was one of those Australian colloquialisms that people say down under.   On the contrary I soon learned that this phrase was part of the culture our church was trying promote.  Perhaps this was why our home church, Bray Park, some years ago added the words "community" to its name.   It wanted to be known as a church that had the community in its heart.

But this is not unique to our home church.  In fact, as churches in the CRCA we understand that to be gospel-focused requires us to be community-hearted.   The gospel is believable when the gospel is observable.   Jesus describes the church in this way: 

"You are the salt of the earth.   But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it made salty again?   It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.  You are the light of the world.   A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives ligth to everyone in the house.   In the same way, let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  (Matthew 5:13-16)  

These images Jesus uses clearly show to us that as churches we are to be difference makers in our communities.   Like salt and light.   You are salt.  In your community there are crowds of people – but put the church into the mix – put Christ followers in the middle of the crowds – and you’ll notice the difference salt makes – it changes things. Things will never be the same again.   You put a lamp on a stand and it gives light to everybody in the house. The church lets its light shine, you let your light shine before people – and it gives light to everyone in the city!  Everyone in your community.   People observe the gospel by your good deeds.   What is observable becomes believable.  And people respond in praise to God.   

One looks around in our society today, and one sees the brokeness all around us:  the growing dishonesty, corruption, sexual immorality, drug addiction, violence, pornography, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion.   We might wonder, whose fault is it?   In the words of the late clergyman John Stott (d. 2011):  "Let me put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house.  That's what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is, 'Where is the light?'  If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the meat. That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked.  The question to ask is, 'Where is the salt?'   If society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society.  That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked. The question to ask is 'Where is the church?'"

Gospel-focused churches would answer and say that they are in the heart of the community and the community is in their heart!   Charles Haddon Spurgeon (d. 1892) was one of the greatest preachers of all time.   But he was also community-hearted.   His ministry of compassion overflowed into the largest city of his day.   He established an orphanage for girls and another for boys, a training college for the poor, a door-to-door literature ministry, provided food and clothing to the needy, and engaged in construction and other community development initiatives.  Spurgeon also spoke out publically for social causes such as the abolition of slavery, workers' rights, and more.   As one writer put it, "Spurgeon's theology became his biography, and his biography became a living legacy of good works that blessed the world in his day -- and after."  (Michael A. Milton, Finding a Vision for Your Church:  Assembly Required)  

May it be said of churches and Christians today, that they are living a legacy of good works.   That legacy is rooted in the gospel -- a gospel that is lived out in churches being community-hearted.