Innie or Outie, Church?

Dr. Warren Lathem and I were in both college and seminary together. He never ceases to amaze me! Here we go – –

In 1972 I was appointed to the little eastern Kentucky West Bend Methodist Church. They had not had a pastor for 4 months so my 20 year old inexperienced self was better than nothing…but just barely.

They were very generous and gracious to us. There was a lot of poverty, but they gave out of their poverty to support us in the ministry. More importantly they invested themselves in us understanding part of their congregational ministry was in providing a training ground for student preachers.

This little mountain church had built a cement block gym and had purchased the used boot skates from a closed local skating rink. Unfortunately, the financial condition of the church was so bad they could not afford the propane to heat the gym. Therefore, it was padlocked and unavailable for use.

I saw a huge potential for that space. I raised enough money to buy some propane and got permission to open the gym to the children and youth of the community.

On Wednesday nights we opened the skating for just $0.25 per child (to pay for propane). We spent an hour skating and then served koolaide and cookies while we sang and shared the gospel with them. Then skated another hour.

Often we saw children and youth give their lives to Jesus on those Wednesday nights. Some started attending our church even though their parents would not come with them. Church members started transporting some of these kids to Sunday School and Worship.

It was a good time also for some fellow students from Asbury University who came with us on Wednesday nights and played guitars and sang and testified. For some it was the beginning of ministry which they would pursue for the rest of their lives.

All this is to say this outward focus of this ministry to the community yielded a lot of fruit. Further, it never lacked for resources as long as it focused outwardly. It was the beginning of our learning this great lesson: The Lord provides what the mission needs as long as the mission uses it for God’s intended purpose.

Then came Christmas break of our third year as their pastor. They gave me two weeks off so we could go back to Georgia and celebrate Christmas with our families.

The first Sunday of the new year, 1975, we returned to the church. After the service some of the leaders said, “Come see what we did in the gym over Christmas.” They were clearly proud of a significant accomplishment.

They threw open the doors to a beautifully refinished floor, fresh painted lines of the adult sized basketball court. The roller skates were gone since you could not skate on such a beautiful floor. They declared they had about a dozen men who wanted to play basketball every week on those beautiful floors.

I was heart broken. Somehow I had failed. Almost the only ones who would benefit from the gym were the members of the church. They might reach a man or two outside the church, but the 50+ kids we had been ministering to every week were essentially abandoned.

These were not mean people. They were simply misguided. They had been raised in a church culture that was essentially inwardly focused and had no significant vision for reaching their community with the gospel. They talked about the importance of mission. They wanted the folks in their community to come faith in Christ. However, their time, talents, treasures, and witness were turned inwardly on themselves.

Unfortunately, I would discover this was the primary posture of most churches. Inwardly focused churches soak up all the resources poured into them and produce little or no Kingdom fruit. Generations of church members had been raised in a church culture which had long abandoned claiming our mission to reach our own communities with the gospel. We kept doing social work, but lost the social gospel, that which wins the lost to Jesus.

Every church has a choice to make: boot skates or basketball. That is, we get to choose whether we will serve ourselves or serve others. Effective churches choose mission. Boot Skates.