IMPRESS ME!

Imagine you sit down in a room, across from you sits a group of people, listening attentively to your every word. Some of them scribble things down as you say them, others simply stare at you. You feel the tension rise, you want to wow them, to win them over. Their body language screams: IMPRESS ME! At the end of this, will you have done what was needed to capture their hearts?

For a lot of you, this is a job interview- for a lot of pastors, this is every Sunday. The question has often been asked by many a church-seekers: What do you have to offer me? They are looking for the best children's program, or music team, or teacher, or ambiance, or curriculum or doctrine, or seat cushions. They want the body they are checking out to "IMPRESS ME," or at least show them why they need this church.

They are asking the wrong question.

And the church is giving the wrong answer.

The roles should be reversed- the church should be asking each new person, "What do you bring to the table?" I, of course, am not advocating that the church screen members. ("I like what I see in your community activism, but...ouch, you really can't sing. Sorry, but no thanks.") By the church not actively expecting anything, let only articulating their needs for fear of being perceived as less than the bigger building down the road, they are lulling prospectives into a sort of comatose state of attendance. They come, they see, they sit.

A church does not move by the staff and leadership alone- despite what some leaders may show by their attitudes and actions. It needs you and me, the average ordinary people that give Her a Body. What makes the church unique to other gatherings is that survival depends upon all of us working together, living together.

So, at the Gate (the church I pastor) here are a few general things we ask from a prospective body part:

We need your perspective.
You see God for His provision and compassion. Someone else sees God for His strength. I see God for His forgiveness. And so on. The Body needs different perspectives of God to get a better picture of who He is, in whole.

We need your vision.
You have a dream ministry in mind. You want a church that a certain thing, but you can't seem to find it. Maybe that is because you are the only one with the passion and vision to create it. Stop looking for it, find the Body that will let you lead it, and get busy.

We need your presence.
A church is not a church if I'm the only one there. It's not a church if there is not enough people to have a variety of perspectives. And the visions of people need other people to come to fruition. A church requires people, and you, I assume since you are reading this, are people.

We need your voice.
I love me a good singer. It is part of why I married my wife. But the voice we need is less of one "Telling it on a mountain" and more "Crying out in the wilderness." We, like the early church, grow by word of mouth. In all fairness, they didn't have radio or television, and advertising was not even a whisper of a thought, so they really had no choice. But, people came because people they knew gave voice to what they experienced. And yes, I include your Facebook activity as 'voice.'

We need your talent.
No church should ever turn away a willing and capable volunteer. We certainly won't. We often ask for help with music, children, sound, set up and a variety of other things. Your talent may not be so mainstream, but whatever it is, if you want to use it for God, we bet He can help us to find a place for it. Unless said talent breaks some sort of law, in which case, we still probably need to talk.

We need your prayer.
Well, duh. I mean, really, this goes without saying, but we need you praying. Not just for the church as a whole, but each other. I need your prayer, you need mine- God kind of made it this way on purpose. As U2 sang, "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own." Prayer is one of those times we need more than just us.

So, to be really honest, the church needs you like you need her. Just for fun, I may stand up this Sunday, in front our church, and just yell, "IMPRESS ME!" Then sit and wait.

OK, I probably won't, but still...