jenga

There is a game in which you begin with a tower of wooden blocks. One-by-one, a piece is removed, until it falls apart. Clearly, some of the components are expendable. What if this game could be played with churches? You pick a community and begin removing churches one-by-one making it unstable. Finally, you remove one that was so critically important that the whole community feels the crashing effect from losing that important piece. This is not a fun game, but it may be a useful diagnostic. How critical is your church to your community?Let’s take this one step farther. What will happen if you-yourself are removed from your neighborhood? Will they sense a gaping hole and mourn their loss? God has planted you there, and you have a purpose. If you are being all that you were made to be, it should make a difference. Now, I don’t want you obsessing over a sinful pursuit of significance, but as we honestly strive to be salt and light, as we seek to fill the needs of our community and maximize every opportunity to make Jesus famous, we should so impact our world that it just would not be the same without us. That’s what will happen when you crave living for and like Christ. (The foundational idea for this post (like many others) is based on a line I heard from one of my pastor's sermons. But I do not plan to mention it every time I glean a concept from him. In fact, there may be times when he looks at my ramblings and says, "That's not where I intended to go with that.")