Stay Quiet, You'll Only Make It Worse

“Why are so many people in our churches just sitting in the pews and doing nothing for Jesus?”

As I continue to live out my calling within the church, I hear these kinds of questions on an ongoing basis. Rick Warren had similar words for his own congregation.

A non-ministering Christian is a contradiction is terms. However, what I never seem to get a clear answer for is this - "What counts as ministry?" Is it possible that some of the people we think to be inactive are quite involved behind the scenes? They might be more active than you or I know.

Whenever I hear questions like this or hear sermons about Christians who are doing nothing with their faith, I often wonder who they are referring to. I mean, I’m with them. Let’s get a list of names going, get the posse together and round up these vagrant Christians. Let’s flush them out and expose them for the dogs that they are.

As I walk through life however, I really can’t think on too many people that I would level such a charge against. So when I hear talk about non-ministering Christians, I wonder who they are in my life.

Is it the pharmacist? His work schedule varies a lot so he doesn’t help out regularly in the Sunday school program. He helps when he can, leads life group and spends a lot of time trying to walk with and mentor other men. Would he be on the list? Or the factory worker. Again, he only helps in Sunday school once in a while. Sometimes when he’s on a date with his wife he hands out a gospel tract. Does that count? Does it count when he spends time trying to be a big brother to a struggling student? Probably not. What counts?

I get the feeling sometimes, that in the eyes of other believers, I’m not ‘doing enough’ either. There are so many things being done in the name of Jesus with which I am not personally involved.

If we’re going to answer the question, ‘why are so many believers doing nothing?’, we need to begin by looking at the people we’re referring to. Maybe they really don’t know Jesus. If that is the case, are you really being the light that you are called to be in their lives? Have you clearly expressed the Gospel to them and done every reasonable thing in your power to introduce them to and counsel them in their walk with Jesus? How many years have you spent praying for them? Give me a number. 5? 10? 20 years? Have you even spent one solid week in prayer on their behalf, asking that God would cultivate their hearts and open their eyes? Or do you spend most of you time complaining about ‘them’?

Don’t brush me off. I expect solid, clear answers to my questions if you’re going to level charges against the people who bear God’s own image. I expect names.

So who are these non-ministering Christians anyway? Are they talking about you? If you aren’t about your Father’s business, why is that? I would like very much of you would consider the implications of this passage of scripture;

“In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honourable are those we clothe with greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen” 1Corinthians 12:22-23

If we’re looking at the church as a body, please think on what it is saying about the body. There are parts of our bodies that we put clothing over, parts that should never be in sight of the public eye. I won’t mention these parts, because that would be rude. Most of these parts are our genitals. It’s almost comical in a way. Nobody ever calls a person a hand or a foot, but the people of this world are known to call each other by some of the ‘less honorable’ body parts. Don’t they? Perhaps some of us have done the same.

“That guy is a real _______.”

These parts are clothed for the sake of modesty for the body. In the context of the church, some believers are meant to stay under wraps in order to protect the reputation of the church. So if you are that non-ministering Christian, maybe you’re an embarrassment. For modesty’s sake, perhaps the most responsible things that you can do on a Sunday morning are to sit down, lean back, keep your mouth shut and enjoy the show. Please put as much as you can in the collection plate.

As an outsider, looking at these horrible non-ministering Christians, what do you expect them to do? Have you told them what you expect of them? Are the things that you want them to do the same as what the Spirit wants them to do?

Who are these unmentionable parts anyway? Why doesn’t Paul give us some names and tell us what they are doing or not doing? I often wonder if these are the kinds of people that some of us might label ‘marginal Christians.’ I mean, you’re pretty confident in your standing before God so it can’t possibly be you. I must be in because I write book and blogs. Your pastor is in right? But there are those people that you just aren’t sure about. Aren’t there?

Your friends ask you, “Is she saved?”

“I’m not sure. She goes to church sometimes. She says she believes, but I just don’t know....”

These parts (people) that Paul is referring to seem weak in our eyes, but we’re told that they are actually , “the most necessary”. Our churches are built on the backs of those who seem less than spiritual. Through our Christian Coloured Glasses, they hold down unimpressive jobs, give to the work of the church and show up on Sunday mornings. They interact with people on a daily basis that you and I never come in contact with. Their children come to our Sunday School programs, and go to youth group. They help pay the utilities and help keep the staff employed full time in the service of The King of Kings.

You’re right, they really haven’t come along the way that a follower of Christ should. Maybe their life’s purpose is to demonstrate what it looks like when someone only meets Jesus half way. Their life may be little more than an example of Christianity gone awry. Or perhaps it isn’t about ‘them’. We might just be saying these kinds of things about you.