Character Centered/Achievement Centered

 

Dr. Charles Colson writes in one of his books, The Body of Christ, that the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is an individual commission.  He goes on to write that the church needs to be more character centered than achievement centered.  To understand more about the Church, the body of Christ, the book is a good read and Colson is very prophetic in his wisdom concerning the church and secular influences on the church.

Colson as you may recall was the hatchet man for President Nixon and as result of the Watergate scandal was sentenced to prison.  In prison, he received Christ as his Savior.  Since his conversion and release, Colson has been a very prominent Southern Baptist leader for Christ as speaker and author.

The morning I read his comment or character verses achievement, I thought of a conversation I had with a pastor friend.  He and I would attend Southern Baptist rallies, national and state, and instead of being energized, he would get discouraged.  In his passion for evangelism, he became depressed because his church was not growing numerically.  That is achievement oriented.  This is how most Baptists, national, state, and local, judge success in our Convention, our states, and associations.

Keynote speakers at conventions are typically pastors who started with a few members and grew large churches.  The typical storyline was, “we started with 50 or less members in an open area and now we are running 500, 1000, or more.”

I would quiz my friend about these claims.  I asked, “Did you know that that church did start in a cotton field, but now there are subdivisions due to white flight and urban expansion?”  I would ask him how many people moved into his community within the last year.  He would reply that people had moved out.  I asked how expected his church to enlarge if the community was shrinking.

Another depressing concern for my friend was the inconsistence of his Sunday morning Sunday School and worship attendance.  Again, this was achievement oriented.  He continually complained that he would have a consistent attendance if he did not have so many members that worked on Sunday.  He told me on several occasions that they needed to quit their jobs if they had to work Sunday.

I would quiz him again.  I say quiz but it might have been me playing the devil's advocate.  I would ask him did he turn on the lights on Sundays.  He said yes and I said someone was working at the electric plant for him to have lights.

I asked if he drove a car to his church on Sunday.  He said yes and I said that many of the parts of that car were manufactured on Sunday and that the car may have been assembled on Sunday.

I knew he liked to eat out on Sundays, and I reminded him that those people were working Sunday.  I reminded him that I worked shift work for many years, which many of his members have, and had only one Sunday a month as an off day.  I worked shift work as a bi-vocational pastor.  I missed one Sunday morning, one Sunday night, and one Wednesday night every month.

My pastor friend preached for me when I missed these services.  I reminded him that most of the conveniences, luxuries, and necessities are produced on Sundays.  I told them that it was very costly and inefficient to start and stop a cement kiln so the operators could be off on Sundays.  It took several hours to shut down a kiln and several hours to restart.  That would make cement unaffordable.  That is true for most manufacturing.

When we focus on the achievement, we forget character.  The Great Commission challenges us to make disciples.  I asked my friend if his members that worked shift attended, taught, and tithed when they were at church.  His response was they do and even send their tithes and have a substitute teacher when they have to work on Sundays.  I asked him, “Well, what’s your problem?”  In reality, the members who were faithful in these areas were disciples by the character of their actions.  Besides this, they were witnesses where they were employed.  They were following the commission of Acts 1:8. They were witnesses at work.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8 KJV).

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen Matthew 28:19-20 KJV).

Colson says, “The first priority of those communities (Churches) is to disciple men and women to maturity in Christ and then equip them to live their faith in every aspect of life and in every part of the world.”