Thanks, Carol for asking this great question and being willing to mardle a little about it. If you’ve not seen Cori’s video about our new parking arrangements, then maybe it’s worth taking a look here as it will explain the backdrop to Carol’s question.
Imagine for a moment that a new supermarket was looking to open in Great Yarmouth. As the big day approached, they started to roll out some publicity so everyone knew (a) where they are located (b) what to expect when people arrive. Now imagine that this was part of the publicity:
“We value our customers and one of the ways we want to show it is by asking you to not park on-site. In fact, we would like to ask that you leave the spaces in the car park for people who don’t normally shop here”
What’s your reaction? Mine is this: Well Aldi is just down the road, I think I will go there! I guess I’m not on my own with this ‘huffy’ reaction either. However, this reaction to our make-believe supermarket should give us pause for thought. Why? Because we’ve been dipped, soaked, and totally indoctrinated in a consumerist worldview! Almost every interaction we have with others has been soaked in a consumer mentality. Even in the world of healthcare, this consumer mentality is creeping in (if I can get a better service from another hospital then isn’t it my right to have the best service regardless of which hospital is providing it?). Now, before you think I’ve gone off the deep end in some anti-consumerist rant, let me say there are some great things about living in a market-driven society. However, and this is the big moment of reveal… when that consumerist mindset starts seeping into the church, that’s where things go wrong and here’s why.
Let me give you four big ideas to help you mardle with others about this over the coming days:The church is a family, not a spiritual supermarket
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, (Eph 2:19)
The church is not a spiritual supermarket. We’re not competing for a slice of the spiritual market in Great Yarmouth and the surrounding towns and villages! We’re not trying to entice customers by having the best … [fill in the blank]. In fact, to go down that road would be a disaster! Why? As Ephesians 2:19 (and a hundred and one other places in scripture) says, we’re a family (members of God’s household). Consumerism asks: what can I get out of this relationship, transaction, or organisation? Family asks a whole bunch of different questions: How can I serve? Why is my brother so annoying… but I still love him? To confuse the church for a spiritual supermarket would be to abandon one of the most precious things ever… we are the family of God!
The Church is meant to prefer the weak and marginalised
On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. (1 Cor 12:22-24)
Notice how these verses from 1 Corinthians 12 tell a very different story to that of consumerism. Consumerism says: If I’ve got the money, then it’s my right to search for the best product there is regardless of the consequences (including to others). That’s my right. In the church, we’re commanded (yes commanded) to live very differently! We’re told to give “special honour” (preferential treatment) to those parts of the church family that are weaker. Hmm… that’s a challenge?
Jumping back to the car park, leaving the brick weave area clear for those with mobility issues or a gaggle of kids seems one way of honouring this imperative in scripture. Those of us who can walk for 3 or 4 mins so that those who can’t (or who would struggle) can then park onsite, seems to me a way of giving special honour. Doesn’t that sound like the body of Christ to you?
Mission is about intentionally creating space for those who don’t know Jesus
The church is meant to be a ‘colony of heaven in the country of death’ (Eugene Peterson). The church is meant to be a place where witness and evangelism are not just for the keenies, but something we’re all involved in somehow. As a result, leaving some spaces in the car park for people who have plucked up the courage to come on a Sunday, many of whom are not yet followers of Jesus, seems one simple but intentional way we can all participate in witness. Can’t we become a witnessing community by parking 3 or 4 minutes’ walk away?
Discipleship is a call to give up my rights for the sake of others
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. (1 Cor 9:12)
Finally, the New Testament says so much about living as disciples who get comfortable (yep, this is meant to be ironic) with giving up our rights for the sake of a greater good – the advancement of the gospel. Being able to park in the car park might be something we could expect from a church, but for the sake of a growing church, isn’t this small inconvenience something we can endure for the sake of a greater goal – that men and women from across the East Coast can come to hear about Jesus and then be welcomed into his family?
See you Sunday as many of us stroll 3 or 4 minutes into the meeting 🙂
Got some questions you fancy a mardle about? Drop me a line: mardle@wearekingsgate.org