A Church Where Everyone Gets to Play

I’m presently teaching a course for Rockbridge Seminary entitled, “The Missional Leader.” One of the required textbooks is The Permanent Revolution by Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim (2012). As I prepared to teach the course, something in a chapter subtitle recalled for me a conversation with my wife twenty-five years ago. The subtitle had but seven words, “A Church Where Everyone Gets to Play” (p. 73). Those words are essential to the health and growth of missional churches and movements. So, for two cents, let me share my wife’s contribution to my understanding of the church as a missional movement.

On January 11th, 1998, I was to preach as a pastoral candidate at a small church located in the southern Berkshires of Massachusetts. For reasons I didn’t wholly understand, I was impressed to preach on Revelation chapter one, verses 5b and 6.

“To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father— to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5b – 6 NASB 1995).

The exegesis of this text was straight forward enough. But for the life of me, I couldn’t find a way to express how it was that we who were redeemed from our sins by the blood of Christ, should be so favored of God that He would elevate our station before Him as citizens of His kingdom and most significantly as priests! Yes, I could identify the things believer priests would be expected to do, but how could I communicate why that should be such a huge privilege in terms that would connect with skeptical saints?

I shared my frustration with Lynn, who would soon be my wife, a woman who had no formal theological training, just an infectious passion to serve God. “Oh, read me that text” she said. A smile broke out on her face.  She clapped her hands like cheerleader and said, “That’s easy! Everybody is on God’s team. Everyone is on the first string. Everybody plays and nobody sits on the bench!”

Preaching in January of 1998 with Super Bowl dreams on everyone’s mind, I stole Lynn’s words, the message resonated, and a week later I received a call to that church where Lynn and I served for 16 years. But it is precisely those seven words, which we must embrace today and every day, if we are to fulfill the Great Commission Mandate our Lord entrusted to us.

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18 – 20 NASB 1995).