Taking It To The Streets

If you were to reach in your pocket right now, or your pocketbook, most of us could pull out a well worn metal ring known simply as our key chain. On this ring we would find a plethora of different keys. The reasoning behind the ring is to hold the vast number of keys that we carry. I think you’ll agree that each one is uniquely crafted to open only a certain lock. We have a key to open our car door, one to turn the ignition, one to open our house door, and other keys that go to various other locks. We have keys that open our offices and keys that we need at work. If that’s not enough, we even carry keys to other people’s locks. Why do we need so many keys? Even though several keys may look similar, being the same color or length, each one has been intricately cut to fit a specific lock set in order to gain access into a particular place.
Now, what I have just described is a picture of precisely how God intended His church to function. Even though many of us may be similar in a lot of ways, God has uniquely created you, shaped you, gifted you, and purposed you to fit a specific lock set in order to gain access to a particular place that only you can open! There are folks who are lost outside of our walls and neither the pastor, nor your teacher, nor your friend can reach them because God wants to use you to reach them. He wants to use you to gain access in to their heart because you may just be the only one who can! That’s the reason that God assembled His church, not just to hang out together. Although that is a huge benefit of belonging to a church it is NOT the primary function of church!
I believe today, church, that God is asking us to change our focus from “DOing church” to “BEing the church!” In my recent studies through various books and journal articles He has brought to the forefront of my thoughts a lone question that begs for an answer. “IF First Baptist Travelers Rest was to close its doors today and shut down as a church, would anyone in our community really care? Would it make a difference?” One pastor asked the question this way based on Acts 8:8, “Is there any great JOY in the city because our church is here?” The question is not, would the congregation care, but is there a presence of joy felt in Travelers Rest because our church is serving the community in such a way that folks would know right off if our church were absent?
Thinking on these ideas must lead us as a congregation to begin asking some great questions of businesses, and organizations, and entities in our town. Questions such as how can our church serve you? What is a current need that you have that we could help meet? These are the questions that are going to help inform us as to how we can be the church that God has called us to be. These are the questions that will enable us to become the keys that God has designed to open thus far locked doors in the hearts of lost people surrounding our building. There WILL be joy in Travelers Rest because our church is in the initial stages of forming teams called ( J.I.T.R. teams) in order to serve our community for Jesus. As you might have guessed it stands for Joy In Travelers Rest. It has always been the church scattered, hitting the streets, which produced a church to be gathered.