Consequences of Clarity

"If nobody's left your church recently, then your vision is probably too broad."

I read that quotation a few years ago in a book called Simply Strategic Stuff by Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan. I wasn't really comfortable with it at the time, and I probably do still have some questions about it.

But just this last week I had a conversation with a friend from our church (not officially a member, but active) who shall remain anonymous in this post, who's probably going to go look for a different church. We've been talking a lot about reaching the non-Christians in our community recently (as I preached about last weekend), and this person was worried that we would stop "feeding the believers" if we did too much of that.

I'm sympathetic to this person's concern, and I'm glad they raised it with me. First Lutheran has a history of real Biblical substance, and I certainly want that to be our future too. So, friend, if you're reading this post, thank you for prodding me on this point.

At the same time, however, we are also discerning our calling to engage our unchurched world with the good news of the Kingdom of God dawning in Jesus, and I just can't imagine shrinking back from that call. We're still in this process of discernment, but that feature seems to be rising rapidly to the front. We've got to navigate the challenge of doing this without turning Jesus into a product to be sold or simply reducing our proclamation down to whatever is easy and palatable to the greatest number of people. Certainly there are temptations to do that.

It's sad to lose a friend and ministry partner from this church, but I also know that there are lots of churches doing various pieces of God's work in the world. Not every church can be everything, and, dear friend, you will be a blessing, no doubt, to another church. And if God leads our mutual callings closer to each other again, I shall be glad for the reunion.