Who is the church for?

This question is probably the trickiest one I've had to navigate as a pastor. Here's the deal: I'm called to feed both the members of my church and the people in our community who have yet to hear about the love of Christ. The problem is, they don't like the same food. It's like inviting a vegan and a person on the Atkins diet over for dinner.

Lots of times this issue is manifested in terms of music style. A lot of us grew up in the church and love the old hymns. they invoke a spiritual memory in us that unites us to God in a very powerful way. But if you never grew up in church, the tendency is to gravitate towards music that sounds at least a little closer to what you would listen to on the radio. Both are good, both are valid. To make it trickier, some life-long churchgoers like the contemporary music, and some folks new to the faith like the hymns.

So who is the church for? Which of these groups should I try to please?

Ok, yes I know, worship is about pleasing God, not us. But is it more pleasing to God to feed God's sheep, or to go after the one who is lost? Jesus suggests we should do both!

Who is the church for?

Ok, yes I know, the church is the people, not the building or the event that happens at 9:00 and 10:30am on Sunday mornings. But the church building is where the church gathers and the church service is what the church does. Wait..."service"...is that supposed to mean something? Who are we serving?

Who is the church for?

Ok, yes I know, Jesus calls us to seek and save the lost. Maybe I should put aside the feelings of the life-long churchgoers, push them out of their comfort zone, and focus solely on the totally unchurched. I mean, have you read the parable of the prodigal son? It's about the son who is totally lost and comes home to the Father after falling deep into the muck and mire of sin. It is beautiful, poetic, grace when the Father runs to embrace his son. He goes out to him. The church should go out to the lost of our community as well.

But then...the Father goes out the the older brother. The one who had been there all along. Who knew the Father...or did he?...and had never left him. This brother is lost, too, in a much different way. Somehow, both the righteous and the unrighteous are lost. They both need brought to the Father. The Father goes out to both of them and pleads with them to come home. And when the older brother sees that the Father wants to bring in the younger brother and that there is a cost to this restoration for the older brother...he refuses to come in.

So is God choosing the younger son over the older son? Is God choosing the 1 lost sheep over the 99 he already has? Is God choosing the sinners over the saints?

Or are the saints choosing their own sainthood over a God that would choose sinners?

Who is the church for?

There's a really popular saying among churchy people right now: "The church is meant to be a hospital for the sick, not a museum for the saints."

Can it be both? Does Jesus hate saint museums?

Have you noticed there were never such things as "seeker services" in the early church? The church gatherings were initially for the family, those who were "in," and the lost got saved on the weekdays.

Somehow we've gotten to the point where we're so bad at saving the lost on weekdays we have to do it on the weekends when the church family get together was supposed to be. So we have to ask a new question:

Who is the church for?