attracting people to... what?

It has been said several times (many times by me) that our goal should be the one Jesus spoke about in John 12.... "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

I have observed that the best way to 'lift Him up' is to serve others... to show them Christ's love. When I ponder the concept, I am naturally drawn to the 'sheep and goats' parable at the end of Matthew 25... "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

(I do this so poorly most of the time that I certainly haven't observed it in myself... but I want to model those who do...) When I have tried to serve others (and watched my brothers and sisters do it), Christ is invariably lifted up!

Many churches seem to 'get it' when it comes to service... as a matter of fact, over the past decade or so there has evolved an accepted 'organized church model' for serving others. It has seeded an entire movement: mega-mall-church-buildings are dotting the landscape, offering everything from AA meetings to daycare to racquetball leagues!

This movement has changed our vernacular... literally, new words and phrases have been coined: "mall church", "seeker-sensitive-worship", "casual service", "mega-church" and "blue-jeans-worship", to name a few...

I truly believe this movement has pure motives... I want to think it seeks to 'attract' the masses by serving them... I fear, however, that we may be simply providing services to them. Still, I truly believe there are pure hearts behind this idea... that there are Godly people who are indeed serving others in an attempt to attract people....

I have two questions: "who are we attracting?" and "what are we attracting them to?"

If you sat outside some of these mega churches for a week, you may find yourself checking the sign out front to make sure you are at a church building rather than a country club... not only are these places obscenely palatial, the clientele (driving up in their $40,000 SUVs to drop off the kids to day camp or catch a game of men's league basketball) would seem to be very upscale indeed! (are we truly serving 'the least of these brothers of mine'?)

And, if we are not careful, we become a 'christian' version of our program-laden federal government... we build buildings and fund our programs and organize teams and develop budgets and.... that sort of model only breeds dependence upon the organization providing the service!

The problem, I think, is a fundamental misunderstanding of what the church is... It would seem (again) that we have mistaken the modern 'organized church' for Christ' model... And (again) we are teaching the next generation that the church is a building... or at best that it is an organization...

and that is so foreign to Jesus' model... I am not anti-organization... (and again, I believe there is a lot of good being done in the name of Jesus) in fact, I am quite anal when it comes to organizing... I know there is value in making a plan and organizing teams and budgeting...

I am just afraid we organize the spirit right out of our service to others! and we lose sight of John 12.... I believe our challenge to 'lift Him up' is a personal one...

Someone smarter than me has said "the Bible NEVER commands that the poor and needy seek out the church and get help.... the Bible commands that the CHURCH (God's people) seek out the poor and needy and help them"

So.... go find someone who needs help.... then help them. In the name of Christ. That's what John 12:32 is all about.

Blessings!