Greetings bloggers!
He shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, but at our contemporary worship service we have a particular member who we call “the mayor” of the Bridge. He has enjoyed that title because he is one of the most outgoing human beings I have ever come to know. If someone new shows up to our worship service, we can usually identify them because they show up on time or (Lord forbid) early, and because the Mayor is right by their side, getting to know their story, and giving them the scoop on the service. Almost always, when we were meeting in person, the Mayor would grab me after the service and introduce me to a new family just so that I could get to know them.
Where the Mayor really shines though is in his ability to connect people within the church. It was the Mayor who noticed some folks sitting behind him week after week had a really good singing voice, and more years later than I care to count we have some of the best worship leaders in the world on a weekly basis. It’s the Mayor who helps to connect families with like-minded families throughout the church, some of the deepest friendships around are those he helped organize. The Mayor works tirelessly to make sure that folks are relationally engaged in our church.
As the pandemic wears on, I have come to an inescapable truth: I need to be more like the Mayor.
I need to be working hard to connect folks in my congregation to each other, to the mission of the church, and ultimately to the love of God. To be sure I can do that with sermons and songs and videos, but I think in reality this is a “boots on the ground” kind of job. It’s the kind of job that is deeply steeped in stories. It’s the kind of job that is more interested in listening to someone than it is in speaking to someone. It’s the kind of job that is ultimately selfless, and uninterested in receiving credit.
Actually, it’s the kind of job that Jesus had.
To be sure, Jesus had his occasional big sermon moments. Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Plain. Teaching in the Temple. But as I read through the gospels, I am more and more recognizing that Jesus did his best work in the 1-1 relationships. The healing of countless blind, sick, and lame. The little interactions with people carrying earnest questions. The piles of kids that wanted nothing more than to sit on Jesus’ lap. Yes, Jesus preached, but I could make the argument that he spent more time living.
Whatever the new normal of the Church looks like, I think it looks more like being a Mayor. I think it looks more like investing our time in one on one or small group ministry than it does in preparing for worship in a polished and flawless way. Again as I mentioned on Tuesday, this isn’t to say we should do away with the sermon or settle for crummy teaching. But it is to say that perhaps the priority of connection needs to move up the ladder of our priorities even more than it may have before. Something will have to give, and my first vote is that we do away with e-mails. But that’s a story for another day…
So, how will you be more of a Mayor to your congregation in the new normal?