The danger for an individual is to become to focused on the self. The danger of a congregation is to become to focused on itself. When we become too focused on the self, we become too conscious of the threats to the self and the need to protect oneself. This was the first temptation recorded for Jesus when the Spirit led (or in Mark drove) him into the wilderness. You are hungry, turn the stones into bread. Use whatever power and resources you have to protect yourself first. What good is a dead Messiah to the world? Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? The parallel is for a congregation to focus first on its survival.
The value of recognizing that we are all a part of a connectional church is to sense our relationship to God’s work through the Body of Christ in the larger world. The issues of the larger world may seem beyond our ability to affect, but as part of the larger church we can do that which transcends our capability as a single congregation. Some churches attempt to recognize that connectionalism through a minute for mission that lifts up the work of the greater church. All churches can lift up in prayer those concerns that are beyond the physical reach of the congregation. Special offerings can also be seen as a reflection of our capacity to join together to make such a witness.
The very act of lifting such concerns up to God in prayer is to acknowledge our connection with them. When we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are committing our self to be part of God’s work to fulfill the divine purpose on earth. For us to despair that the world will ever change is to deny God’s ability or willingness to answer the prayer that his son taught us to pray.
