John Kaiser, American church growth guru, complains that 89% of church attendees surveyed said that the primary purpose of their congregation was to serve their needs and the needs of their families. It’s a depressing statistic.
I believe that we should (and are!) primarily missional, but a Biblically missional church involves comprehensive care. Jesus commanded his disciples to ‘make disciples’ and teach them to obey. The apostle Paul evangelised, but also wrote letters and re-visited churches to establish new Christians in the faith.
Kaiser sharpens the question in his little book “Winning on Purpose”- “who will you serve first?”.
My response to Kaiser is- “it depends!!”. Often it depends on the context. Or it may depend on the real need— there is a big difference between someone wants to know how to become a Christian versus someone who wants a partner to play table tennis! If it’s Sunday, straight after church, I will try to spend time with a visitor. Or if someone is getting married, I will spend time with them intensively before the wedding in marriage preparation. So… it depends!
But Kaiser’s point is this- “If we say we will serve both groups equally, you may be sure your congregation will wind up hopelessly focussed inward”. The reason?- “because the needs of those inside are the ones that will always be before your face. The squeaky wheel gets the grease…. Noone will ever march down the street from the neighbourhood, pound on the pastor’s door and demand, ‘why haven’t you started making disciples of Jesus Christ on my block”.
Kaiser makes his point, and we need to hear it.
But let me also say!…. I am encouraged by our church how so many people helped in our mission recently, and so many people pray and help every week in reaching out to others. Thanks to those who are helping with welcoming, and who give me sermon feedback like “too much Christian jargon Andrew”. We are certainly not perfect, but I am encouraged!
Let’s stay outward in focus– in fact, I am fully convinced that those churches that are doing the most and best evangelism, are also the ones best loving each other.
(Andrew).

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