By Ed Thompson

Why do we bother? Why do we bother to have a preschool? A Vacation Bible School? A food bank? A neighborhood picnic? We’ve done this for years, and we haven’t had any of these people join our church. 

I’ve heard comments like this several times over the past few weeks. After reflection, I’d have to say maybe that’s not why we do things as a church. Maybe we shouldn’t expect people to join the church even after they experience how friendly we are. And part of that may be because we are not as friendly as we think we are.

Maybe we should do things because they are the right thing to do. Maybe we have a preschool because we want each child to know they are loved, so they can experience caring teachers who can give them guidance on how to play together, how to follow instructions, how to sing songs and create art. Some children will get to do all that at home. Sadly, many won’t.

Maybe we have a Vacation Bible School so some children who don’t come to Sunday school can learn about Jesus. That, in and of itself, is reason enough to have a VBS. At VBS, they can also have snacks and a chance to sing songs and do crafts. That might be a safer, healthier, more caring environment than they have at home. With cutbacks in art and music programs in our schools, these kids may have more sustained exposure to art and music at VBS than they do the rest of the year.

Maybe we have a food bank so people don’t have to be hungry, or at least so they don’t have to be hungry at the end of the month. Maybe that gives us an opportunity to provide cooking classes or information on proper nutrition, especially to families with younger children. Maybe an older generation learned this at home, had a home economics class in high school or spent some time in the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. Maybe the people we help haven’t had those opportunities, or maybe they didn’t take them seriously because they couldn’t see how it would make any difference in their lives. Maybe this gives us an opportunity to get to know our neighbors and learn about the challenges they’re facing.

Maybe that’s the reason we have a neighborhood picnic. It can help us get to know our neighbors. What a concept! Sometimes, it seems like we do things not because we care about our neighbors, their needs and how we might help them but because we think it’s going to help us. It will help us put people in the pews who can boost our attendance and Sunday school enrollment, which serves more to boost our self-esteem. We’re not hoping their lives can be changed or made easier; we’re hoping they’ll serve on our committees, teach our Sunday school classes and lead our youth group (which can be composed of their kids and the friends of their kids) so we don’t have to.

Maybe if we learn about our neighbors, we can learn to care about our neighbors. We can learn about what they need. We can learn about the challenges they face. We might be able to demonstrate that the impression they have about our church or Christianity in general is wrong. Maybe we can help them recognize that our church is not like the church they grew up in or the churches they see on TV. Maybe we can help them understand that God loves them, God forgives them, and God wants them to live safe, happy, and healthy lives.

So, maybe we do these things not to change our neighbors but to change ourselves. Maybe we do these things to make the world a better place. Maybe we do these things because this is what Jesus would do if he lived in our neighborhood.

I suppose in some odd, almost existential way, Jesus does care about how many members we have on our church rolls. But that probably ranks just ahead of how much Jesus cares about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. If Jesus does indeed care about how many members we have on our church rolls, I think Jesus cares more about how many people go hungry, how many people don’t feel safe, and how many children don’t feel loved and don’t get to sing, draw, paint or play with clay. As Jan Edmiston, the co-moderator of the General Assembly, puts it, there are things going on around us that break God’s heart.

Maybe we need to look at our motivation. If we’re doing something with the expectation that it is going to get our church some new members, maybe we don’t need to bother. Maybe we should just stay home. But if we’re going out to meet our neighbors, if we’re willing to take the risk that we might learn something about them and discover ways we can use our gifts to meet their needs and make their lives better so that we can show them God’s love, then it will be worth the effort, and it will be the right thing to do even if we never get any new members.