It's Not About You

June 23, 2011


I have a couple questions for you that I'm going to attempt to answer.


What do you expect from a teacher when the students do not learn?
What do you expect from a doctor when the patient is not healed?
Why is The Church here?


I'm a teacher, have been for 5 years going on 6. It's been my experience that when my students do not learn something, I have the responsibility to re-teach the skill. My student's parents expect me to alter my lessons to meet the differing learning styles of their children in order to educate them. My principal expects me to be able to present the content in multiple ways so that no child slips through the cracks without learning. I don't continue to teach the way I was teaching hoping that it will sink in this time. Out of pure desire to accomplish my job, I do those things ... I change because I have the best interest of the child at heart.


I've been very sick this year with some stomach issues. I've been to the doctor almost weekly since October 2010. It's been my experience that when I'm sick, the doctor has the responsibility to discover the illness, treat and/or cure it. When I go back to the doctor he does not give me the same medicine in hopes that it will kick in this time. He does not treat me just like he did before because that's the only thing he knows. The doctor alters his thinking about my situation and tries multiple diagnoses & treatments. I'm so glad that he did because he's finally figured out what's wrong and I'm feeling better. He changed from his initial plan so that I could be well ... he had the best interest of the patient in mind.


"The Church" is a body (or group) of believers. These people believe that God is most high. They believe that because a man named Adam messed up, we all mess up. They believe that because this sin (all the mess-ups) is in all men we have no way to God. They believe that God sent his son in human form to Earth to live a perfect life (no sin, no mess-ups) in order to die, take our punishment for us, and recreate a way to God. As a result all who believe can be reunited with God.  It's been my experience that the church building is a tool that the church body can use in order to tell the world about this wonderful story. If the church body inside the church building is not growing then it must be because un-churched people are not being drawn inside. I would propose that it just makes sense to change what is going on inside the church building in order to draw people into the church body for the sake of spreading the wonderful story - The Gospel of Jesus Christ.


Just like the teacher changes with her students' best interest at heart; and the doctor changes with the patients' best interest at heart, so should the activities provided by the church body in the church building change with the best interest of those who do not know the saving grace of the Lord at heart.