A Second Look at Lucado's Book

It’s not…It is…It’s not… About Me
Did you know that the average life of a church continues ten years beyond the active participation of its last charter member? When the founding generation of a congregation becomes unable to be in regular attendance, churches oftentimes falter and die. This sounds a loud warning—especially to smaller churches. How can a church extend its life beyond the founding generation? How do current members go about expanding ministry beyond the opportunities and traditions embraced and provided by ‘pillar families’ who ‘began’ the church?
Hidden in the question is the flawed reasoning that leads to decline. The vision of a church cannot be an expression of the favored agenda of any group of human beings – charter members or otherwise. No generation in the church has the luxury or privilege of existing to serve its own interests. We are called to be about winning others to Jesus Christ, not insuring our own ‘fixed rate’ interest in the preferences of our own generation. This can be a hard thing to understand, but once understood, Christianty truly does become the Great Adventure!
I remember once as a baby Christian (in my 30’s!) being asked if I thought the church where I was worshipping should allow a Chinese congregation to hold their own worship service in the sanctuary in Chinese at a time when the building was not in use. I’m ashamed to say that I thought it was a bad idea. “If they are going to blend with the American culture, let them learn to worship in English and sing the hymns and say the prayers in the English language alongside the rest of us,” I replied. The pastor tried to explain to me how difficult it is to worship in a language that is not one’s own—but I did not grasp what he was saying.
Now I do. And the difficulty entails more than language.
Friends, we may all speak the same language, but there remains something more important than words that must be shared before a congregation can win others to Jesus Christ. We must be able to share our faith with others in a way that they can understand. We must be able to share the faith in a way that is relevant to their context; in a way that what Jesus says matters to them. If we wish to reach a new generation for Christ, then we have to care enough about that generation to speak of Him in a way they will comprehend—not in the way which is customary or necessarily comfortable to us. Another way of saying this is that we will always have our hearts and our efforts for Christ embracing three worlds, not just the one we occupy. Revelation 4:8 reads: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." From the beginning the church has been about the past, the present, and the future.
There is a book I’ve been encouraged to read by some of our Sunday school teachers entitled, It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado. In Christianity, as a whole, the book’s title does ring true; however, I think that John Wesley would cringe if the book were presented to seekers or new Christians without some sort of ‘warning’ signal.
For every person who comes to Jesus, by necessity, it must be all about him or her at the beginning. It MUST be. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian theolgian martyred during WWII, was stricken by the realization that Christ died not ‘for the world’ only, but for HIM, personally. And for YOU. For every individual—as they come to him one at a time. I remember lying in bed one night following my conversion and smiling through tears as I realized, “God loves me.” I wasn’t subscribing to some abstract doctrinal truth. I was experiencing the personal love of God in Jesus Christ. That’s all that we can share that will make people hungry to learn more about Jesus.
Theologically speaking, Christianity definitely is ‘all about me’ prior to justification. In other words, when people who do not know Christ choose to come to church out of a God-given hunger to know their Savior, then to each of those people it must be “all about me: my salvation, my pain, my hunger, my unforgiven sin, my eternal destiny.”
After the “Great Exchange”—after they realize that Jesus loves them, and died for them, and forgives them; after they accept the gift of new life in Christ, then something changes. Then, they are not their own anymore. Then they belong to Jesus.
Oops! Now it is not only all “about me” anymore. Now the process of sanctification begins. Now the indwelling Holy Spirit works to make the individual aware of God’s will in his or her life. Now the process of submission and growth in Christ begins. Now it is about Jesus and growing in grace.
Not that I lose or throw away my own identity! Not at all! But now the greater joy comes from the experience of the Holy Spirit living and working in me as eHe flows to others who are still seeking. A good example would be that now I’m not singularly a hungry person longing to be fed at a Thanksgiving table. Now I’m also helping to prepare and serve the meal to others.
Maybe this will explain some of differences we are encountering as the church continues to grow. In the truest sense, we are already living in three worlds at St. Paul. We have servant leaders in ministries with seniors, with adults, and with youth and children. Pray for Marvin Plumber as he prepares to lead a group of young adults, too!
Let’s strive to understand and respond to those for whom it must, for the present, be “about me,” even as we, who have experienced justification and new birth, hold one another accountable to Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote: “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature..”
One could say the same thing about language and context. Anyone who can only be nourished in the language and context in which they were born in Christ is still and infant. Being able to see and share Christ in different contexts, different langages, and different worship styles is a sign of Christian maturity.