CONSIDER WHAT IT WOULD MEAN
I’ve just returned from a trip that included about 2,000 miles driving my new Subaru up and down the east coast. I drove through both small and large communities. As I drove, I passed multiple churches, both small and large. Again I was struck by how many manifestations of the Christian faith are present in all of our communities. Some of them identified with major denominations, but many of them appeared to be local community churches. All of them affirmed Jesus Christ as their savior.
WHAT IF
In the last several years, we have experienced a rapid increase in the polarization and division within our society. WHAT IF all of our churches decided that they were bound by Jesus commandment that they love one another just as Jesus loved them. As you read that statement, what was your immediate reaction? Did you feel yourself getting defensive? Did you want to dismiss the idea as not realistic in our society? Or did you feel a slight shiver of excitement about what the impact might be on our fractured society if Christians decided that Jesus was serious? Jesus said that it was that very commitment by which the rest of the world would know that we are Jesus disciples. So we are really considering the impact of the Body of Christ being committed to being disciples of Jesus in ways that society would notice.
USE YOUR IMAGINATION
Before you dismiss the idea as fantasy, pause and use your imagination.
First, define in three or four sentences what loving another community means. If the way Jesus acted towards his disciples shapes our definition, it certainly includes behavior that strengthens your relationship, encourages the best that is in the other, and affirms your mutual commitment. You might identify some other criteria.
MAKE A BRIEF LIST
Without overthinking this task, try to make a list of ten actions, behaviors, and attitudes that your congregation might take in relation to other churches within a ten-mile radius. Consider engaging your entire membership through your email list. Ask them to each suggest two or three ways that your congregation might express love to these congregations.
Collect all suggestions, share them with the congregation, and have one or two church meetings to see if you could agree on six or eight ways that you might exercise this possibility. Then look at your list and select the three or four that might be a comfortable first step. Have some fun imagining what might be the effect of your congregation reaching out in this way.
ENGAGE THE LARGER CHURCH
Even before you actually start implementing these behaviors, here is a way to increase the excitement of this project. Contact six to eight other pastors in different geographical areas and invite them to participate in a similar project in their area. Once you have an agreement from several of them, inform all of your congregations of your joint program. Then, through the internet, keep all of your congregations up to date on the progress of each of your congregations.
TAKE A LOVING ACTION
Don’t start with the most difficult action. Choose a few easy steps and begin to engage the other congregations. Keep a record of the different effects on your membership, the congregations you engage, and your partner congregations in other areas.
Be open to all types of possibilities that emerge and be flexible as to your own plans. The central criteria is, “How can we be loving in our behavior towards these congregations?”
KEEP IMAGINING
Doesn’t it boggle the mind to consider what might happen if churches all across our country began focusing on being loving towards other Christians? Once you began to spread the love, you might want to expand to other cultures, regions, and countries as well.
