What makes a church a great church? What is the right tool for measuring whether or not a church is great? I suppose there are several things that we can use to measure if a church is great. The most common one that comes to mind is attendance on Sunday morning. Are there great crowds at the weekend worship services of the church? This has for a very long time been the measurement by which we establish if a church is great. But that is fraught with possible errors. Another way that we often measure a great church is by its building. Does it have a building that is large, beautiful, or inspiring? Whether it is a modern megachurch or a beautiful medieval Cathedral we sometimes measure if a church is great based on the structure in which the church meets. Another way that we often measure if a church is great is by offerings. How much money is collected on a given weekend? This can sometimes be an effective way to measure the generosity of the people who make up the church. I suppose this would be extremely accurate if everyone gave because they have a genuine interest to see the kingdom of God advance. However, sometimes people give with ulterior motives. I have known people who gave simply for the tax benefit or for the reputation that giving allows or even with the mistaken idea that if they give to a church then God is in some way obligated to give to them.
I cannot judge whether a congregation is great or not. That is a judgment that is left up to the Lord himself. However, I have seen great churches from time to time. In fact, it was my privilege to witness a great church this past week. Living in the military community moving and relocating is a part of life. Military people understand it and are really good at helping each other when move time occurs. In our congregation we had a move this past week. Typically, we have a few days' notice to prepare and to round up the volunteers. It's amazing how our folks will show up to help with the move. But this week was a little bit different. Due to unexpected circumstances, instead of having a few days' notice, we only had a couple of hours. We had hoped to do the move Wednesday after work. But it had to be done Monday after lunch. With almost no time to prepare and the clock ticking, word went out that someone needed help. Suddenly help started showing up as if by magic. In a matter of hours everything that had to be moved was loaded on the truck, driven to a new location and unloaded into the new house.
These volunteers turned off their lives for a few hours to serve someone. In some cases, the volunteers and the person needing help had never met before; there was just a connection through the church. By the way, did I mention we live in South Alabama and that this time of year it is miserably hot and painfully humid? Did I mention that this was an emotional and painful move and every volunteer conducted him or herself with grace and gentleness and kindness and love and respect?
With only a very short notice it would have been so easy for everyone to say “I can't help”. I know for a fact that one of the volunteers was involved in the middle of a rather demanding project. They dropped everything and left the project undone so they could go help.I will not mention these volunteers by name for two reasons. First of all, it would embarrass them and they did not do what they did in order to be praised. Second, there are a number of other people who would have gladly joined in if they had not been sick or if they had been in town or if they would have been in any way available.
Our church is not a great church because of its attendance. There are churches that have small groups and Sunday School classes larger than our Sunday morning attendance. Our church is not a great church because we have a magnificent building. You might say our building is nondescript if you wanted to be generous. Our church is not a great church because our offerings are so huge that we can fund dozens of ministries and missionaries. There are times that we can’t actually pay for everything we need. Ours is a great church because it is filled with people who, because they love God and love their fellow man, are willing to sacrifice, to serve, to give, and to set the interest of others above their own interest.
I am extremely proud to be a part of a congregation like this.
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