“If You Build it They Will Come”

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Mark 1:17

 

 

Do you struggle to find workers for children’s ministry?

How about greeters or ushers?

Do you have a scarce supply of workers for every ministry the church has?

I’ve heard people quote the words of Jesus into just these situations.

“He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I’ll admit, in the past, I have even done it myself.

But I’ve come to believe that it is an unfair application of that passage.

“If you build it they will come” might be a great line for a movie but does it really apply to the church?

Not when what we build is contrary to the will or purposes of God.

I think we sometimes build to insulate ourselves and ease our conscience that we are doing something for God.

We build programs and buildings expecting to allure and entice the unsaved into them.

But look at the second sentence of the words spoken by Jesus above.

Do you see the words “send out” and “into”.

That leads me to believe that Jesus expected the opposite of what we are so often doing.

He expected that we would go out and into the world and not simply build a nice building and a ‘superb’ program and then invite them in.

Maybe, just maybe that is why the laborers are few – inside and out – because we have turned the command around.

We built it, but they just are not coming to it.

Perhaps it’s time to understand we bring the Kingdom of God to them.

Perhaps we change the words a bit…

If you bring it, they will come!