Dear ACPC,

Please prayerfully invite people to attend church in the coming weeks. This Sunday I’m preaching a message about which I’m quite enthused. (If it falls flat, it’s my fault, not God’s ?.) I’m intending to make it a bit shorter than usual – like a crystallized Christmas Eve message. Believers need to hear that Jesus is the only bread that satisfies and gives true life. (And we believers can never hear that enough.) Donovan and I are working hard every week to plan music for our services. We’re already strategizing for Easter Sunday. Our hymns/songs will be biblically deep and personally moving. I believe that most visitors would think the same thing.

My pastoral study leave last week was rich. (Thanks to the Session for giving that to me, and to Doug for preaching last Sunday.) I read a number of things, including a book by a former professor (a profound Calvin scholar) about the beautiful holiness and love of God revealed in Christ. I’ve already used a statement of his to minister the Gospel to hurting people. Another book I read is entitled Outgrowing the Ingrown Church – very challenging, convicting and hope-inducing. ACPC is a wonderful church. I’m privileged to serve and lead her (you!). Like many congregations, however, we are tempted by unbiblical inwardness. That is, we assume that the church is for us and our families – and only for us. Over the years I’ve stressed that the local church is a covenant family. Though the term isn’t in the Bible, it’s biblical. There’s a reason that Paul calls us brothers and sisters and not just friends: God has called us to himself by the redeeming work of his Son, Jesus our elder brother. We are tied to one another not by DNA or common, earthly interests but by the life-giving Spirit. We covenant together through membership vows because the Son kept the terms of the covenant given to him by his Father. The Bridegroom kept his vows to gain a bride.

And yet, we need to guard against the “shadow side” of the notion of covenant family; we must emphasize other biblical aspects of the church. The invisible ties that bind us can morph into an invisible force field that keeps outsiders at bay. This is often natural and rarely a sinister impulse. Think in terms of our own nuclear families. When we get together for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter (if that’s what you do), we expect our parents, grandparents, kids, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. to hang out, talk and eat. Even if we don’t always get along, and are glad that there are only a few parties a year, there’s a comforting familiarity to being around our kin. Most of us don’t feel the need to invite our neighbors – or strangers that we meet in the store – to our most intimate gatherings. In fact, that could feel a little awkward and jarring to some. We like the contours of our old shoes, thank you very much. While the church is meant to comfort its people, it should also challenge them to reach beyond its familiar kin to include others.

There’s a saying among Presbyterian and Reformed folks that our congregations grow by couples having babies. While there’s truth in that statement, since the promise of the covenant is for us and our children, it isn’t deep or expansive enough. The church also grows by actively going out into the highways and byways to invite people to the Son’s banquet (wedding feast). A church’s outward focus should not compromise its depth and specialness for its members. Rather it is meant to strengthen those qualities. In other words, evangelism and outreach, if done biblically, actually improve our “inreach.” It’s been said that nothing addresses the problem of stagnating water like a constant outflow of that water. Giving our faith away helps it grow. Returning to the family metaphor, my parents were thrilled when the Gastils grew by the addition of my wife, Liz. How many times have we heard fathers say at wedding receptions, “I haven’t lost a daughter; I have gained a son.” Likewise, it is thrilling to add to the church family by reaching beyond ourselves to non-believers and believers who may be looking for a church like ACPC but can’t quite define why.

This is not a call to introverts to become extroverts. Spiritual rebirth doesn’t annihilate our basic God-given personality structures. Though the church is called to evangelize, some are uniquely gifted to evangelize (especially evangelists!). Nevertheless, we can all participate in God’s outgoing work in this world in some meaningful way. Please pray that God would connect you to people whom you can invite to church. One of the key points of Outgrowing the Ingrown Church is that the advance of the Kingdom is a work of the Spirit. He blows where he wills. And the true, enduring spiritual impact of the church’s work is ultimately up to him. When the stable rudder of truth steers us, the Wind propels us out into the rough seas of this world in order to guide broken and sinking boats into the safe harbor of Christ’s church – with us.

For the Kingdom,

Tom