Each
congregation has its own personality.
Sometimes the differences are obvious: small family congregation or
megachurch, traditional or contemporary worship style, Presbyterian or Roman
Catholic or nondenominational. But even
among churches of the same size, worship style and denomination, the
differences can be staggering. You may
have experienced this when worshiping at a relative’s church or while
traveling. Even if it’s another
family-style Presbyterian church with traditional worship, the church may have
seemed nothing like Old Union.
God loves
variety. Why else would he have created
more than 350,000 species of beetles?
Each person you meet has a unique personality, background, interests,
and abilities. God loves the same variety
when it comes to his churches. He takes
pleasure in the distinctiveness of each gathering of his people. There is a quality about Old Union Church
that no other congregation on the planet has.
It is the identity and personality that God has given to us.
When we
realize this fact, we can draw two conclusions to guide us as we seek to
address the challenges that our church is facing. First, the solutions for our difficulties
will not be approaches that work well at other churches. Ben Roethlisberger throws the pigskin and
Sidney Crosby handles the puck. If
Sidney took passing tips from Ben, it wouldn’t work out very well. We may notice a concept that works
wonderfully at another church, but it would make as much sense at Old Union as
hitting a golf ball with a baseball bat.
Certainly, we can learn from other churches and get wonderful
inspirations from them about how we can serve God and his people in powerful
and exciting ways. But not every idea
survives the transplant. And when it
does, it needs to be adapted to thrive in our congregation’s environment.
Second, we
serve God best when we are the kind of church he created us to be. Michael Jordan did a decent job when he tried
to be a baseball player, but he excelled at basketball. His gifts suited the boards better than the
diamond. Old Union might be able to do a
passable job of serving God in many different ways, but our gifts are best
suited for the particular game that God created us to play. To bring honor to God and to be a healthy church,
we need to recognize our church’s own unique style, and use it to do the unique
work that God has prepared for us.
This month,
please spend some time in prayer reflecting on what makes Old Union the church
that it is. To guide you in this
endeavor, here are some suggestions:
- What memories or stories best capture for you what
Old Union is all about?
- Which hymns best describe the relationship with God
that Old Union demonstrates?
- What passage from the Bible exemplifies the life of
our church?
- Is there a picture, image, or symbol that portrays
Old Union’s character?
Please tell
me or a session member what God teaches you about our church.
