The Original Team Sport

For Easter, my wife and I packed the girls up and headed to Virginia. It was a chance to see friends and family, but mainly it was a chance to help a church. My brother is planting a church in Richmond called Movement. They were going to have their first public service Easter morning, and we had made plans to be there to help.

The Wednesday before Easter weekend I got to be a part of their community group. I was surprised to find out that several couples were all from one church. Come to find out, a large local church had “loaned” out a few couples. It was great seeing two churches working together to reach people with the gospel. At the end of 6 months, some of the couples will go back to their old church, and some of them have decided to stay and continue working with their new community of believers.

At the end of the group time, one guy mentioned a missional opportunity for the upcoming Saturday. I decided since I was in town I’d hop in on the action too. A woman who had recently lost her husband needed some help as she was trying to sell her house. She needed help getting the place spruced up and getting the outside cleaned up. I figured there would be very little turnout since it was a holiday weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to see about 15 people show up. We worked from 9 until about 3. It was a great time getting work done and meeting some wonderful people. At the end of the day we had spread 6 pick-up loads of mulch, moved several feet of leaves, built friendships, and I’d been invited to a Thursday night football game between my Virginia Tech Hokies and Georgia Tech this fall. All in all, it was a good day.

Sunday morning almost 70 adults filled a pavilion at Cheswick Park and I chased 15 little ones around the playground. (On a side note, playgrounds make great children’s areas.) It was great being outside in a place where people passing by got to hear some wonderful songs of praise and, if they walked slowly enough, the gospel being preached.

Looking back on this year’s Easter experience, I got to witness the church working as it should. Churches joining together, people actively serving, community being built, and God’s Word being lived and shared. And it all came together when, just as this week’s lesson says, people got off the bench. That community of believers has decided to actively live out their faith. Everyone was required to participate, and it was beautiful to see and be part of.

Is this the picture you see when you look at your class, group, or church? What can you do better to create an environment that encourages people to get active and truly function like a team? Church needs to become more of a team sport and less of an attraction. For an attraction, you show up, watch, and go home. Church is supposed to be way more than that, and it’s time we begin moving back in that direction.