What if everyone in the church was like you?

Yesterday my wife Diane took some time in worship to share about Operation Christmas Child.  OCC is a project of Samaritan’s Purse.  Shoeboxes are filled with gifts by local churches and sent to warehouses throughout the United States.  In these warehouses, the individual shoeboxes are packed in larger boxes and shipped to children around the world.  When the kids receive the boxes, they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Diane, Adam, and I packed boxes in a warehouse in Baltimore last year.  The boxes we packed went to Iraq.  Diane and I were also blessed to be able to do two distributions in Haiti this summer where we gave the shoeboxes out to kids in Haiti.  This past year Samaritan’s Purse collected and distributed over 10 million shoeboxes!  That’s 10 million kids around the world who heard the Good News of Jesus!

Because of Diane’s passion for OCC, and thanks to a lot of Believers in our church sharing in her vision to spread the Gospel through the shoeboxes, our church has been collecting OCC items all year and will likely pack hundreds of shoeboxes this year.  We will be going back to Baltimore to serve at the warehouse again.  Does everyone in our church share in this ministry?  Of course not.  And that’s OK.  We can be passionate about different things.  I always say I want our church to be doing so many things that everyone can’t possibly be 100% involved in every one.

I remember hearing the question one time, “What would my church be like if everyone was like me?”  And while this is going to make her uncomfortable, I want to ask the question, “What kind of church would we have if everyone was like Diane?”  I don’t mean everyone has to get behind OCC.  I mean, what kind of church would we have if the church people never missed church (like Diane doesn’t miss)?  What kind of church would we have if everyone tithed (like Diane tithes)?  What kind of church would we have if everyone had a passion to glorify Jesus through some mission and ministry (like Diane does through OCC, among other ways)?

Yes, she’s my wife and I can’t be impartial, but I believe the answer is we’d have 250 people in church every Sunday and we’d be doing 10 times the mission and ministry we’re doing now (and we are doing a lot now!).  And if you feel like you rate right up there with her, don’t be offended by today’s blog.  I’m not saying that she’s the best Christian in the church.  I’m just asking you to ask yourself the same question:  “What kind of church would we have if everyone in the church was like me?”

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