Cruising

Reggie McNeal uses airports to describe what churches are supposed to be. Airports connect people to their final destination. They get it wrong when they think they are the final destination.

That got me thinking about it some more and I think I would add that a lot of churches think they are cruise ships. I know there are some of you who would argue that the ports of call on a cruise make all the difference in the world, but they really don't. What you really care about is what amenities the cruise ship has. You couldn't care less that the cruise ship isn't preparing you at all for your destination. It is the destination.

For disclosure sake I should mention that I have never been on a cruise. I'm more of a resort person. But I've heard you talk. You talk about service, swimming pools, shows, sports, and above all you talk about food. I wonder what percentage of passengers actually ever get off the boat. I wonder if cruise ships could simply sail over the horizon and turn in circles for a week and still keep everybody happy.

Churches get caught up in that too. We really only talk about a destination because it seems we should. We have to have something to put in our mission statement, after all. Instead we want to make sure everyone is entertained, having fun, and well fed. We really like it if they have a great program for our kids. That way we can be free of some of our parental responsibilities to have even more fun. We know that we are supposed to be on a journey of some kind so we like the idea of a cruise. We even make a port call every now and then to soothe our consciences a bit. Then it is back to the good life.

We need to get back to being connectors. We need to help people get to their calling in life. We need to be the best airports we can be but we can never lose sight of the fact that we are not the destination.