Too many congregations have forgotten the reason they exist.  Maybe you have heard Thomas Wedel’s parable of the crude lifesaving station that was just a hut and one small boat with a few dedicated members who constantly looked for shipwreck victims lost on the storm-tossed sea.  In time, their success attracted new members, and they were able to buy several new boats and train large crews.  Eventually, as they swelled in numbers and affluence, they became a social club that talked about the value and importance of lifesaving.  Yet, gradually, they had stopped saving those in actual danger (Heaven Bound Living, 99-101).

Are there churches filled with people who study about, preach about, and talk about our mission, but are not saving many?  Perhaps, in too many cases, we are not being true to our reason for existence.  It is like the story about a man who sees a sign in a store window in a small European town.  The sign said, “Pants Pressed Here.” The man goes in and starts to remove his trousers, but he is stopped by a clerk who asks him what he’s doing.  The man said, “I saw your sign and want my pants pressed.”  The clerk replies, “We don’t press pants here.  We just paint signs” (source unknown).  Are we serving Him and the lost, or have we just painted a sign?

Forgetting or betraying our reason for existing may be a matter of failing to realize why we are here.  The age in which we live has given us astounding opportunities and tools to grow, but a failure to realize the need to grow may be behind the fact that the church is not growing throughout the brotherhood.  A lot of congregations and individual Christians have forgotten that the world is really lost.  Second, our pluralistic culture has caused many to lose a clear picture of who is saved and who is lost, and as a result many hesitate to talk to others about their lost condition.  Third, we have become too internally focused on felt needs and personal satisfaction rather than on the eternal salvation of souls around us.  Finally, too many churches question the absolute authority and truth of scripture, seeing it as spiritual suggestions and not Divine directives.  In essence, Jesus says, “Look around you and take off the blinders.  People are dying eternally lost and need the gospel!”

We must remain true to our original purpose.  We must remain true to what the sign in front of the building says.  Only then will we keep reminded of exactly what we are doing here!

–Neal Pollard