A METAPHOR OF THE CHURCH'S BIGGEST PROBLEM

I was the pastoral leader of a small church in Jeannette, PA.  We lived in a 70' mobile home behind the church.  It was short on storage space.

The head trustee suggested that we build a storage shed to resolve our problems.  That fall, he and I worked together on this project.  I learned a lot working with Howard. 

When our "little barn" was all finished, we stepped back to admire our work.  My 1974 Mustang II was sitting right beside the new shed.  Our eyes went from the shed to the car.  Howard said, "Pastor, if we'd have built the shed two feet wider, it could have been a garage!"

Over and again through the years, I've struggled to help the church think ahead!  Our short-sightedness causes us to waste resources and miss opportunities. 

Someone has suggested that the Church tends to attract safe-minded, orderly, structure-loving people.  Creative thinkers and risk-takers are in the minority and get quickly frustrated with the resistance they encounter.  I think there's some truth to this postulation.

Radical, aggressive thinking is foreign to most church bodies. 

However, I think God is still looking for seas to part and temples to rebuild in three days!