The "Real" Work of the Church

I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about just what is the "real" work of the church.  It's an unavoidable consequence of going missional.  Once you embrace the idea that God is a missional God, a God who calls out God's people to go forth to be a blessing to the nations, it's difficult not to look at what you do in the name of being church and ask yourself, "Is this really what we ought to be about?"

But old habits die hard.  And slowly.  I was reminded of this in an upside-the-head sort of way several days ago.  Drew West, a member of the congregation I serve, graduated from high school this past summer.  Rather than go straight to college, or straight to work, or straight to a backpacking-trip-through-Europe-before-I-have-to-get-serious-about-my-future, Drew went to live for six months in Zambia.  We have a sister congregation there, Chawama Presbyterian Church.  The Lord is at work among our Zambian brothers and sisters in powerful ways, but Lusaka, the city where Chawama is loocated, is not Longmont, and Zambia is not Colorado.  It is a dangerous place, especially the part where Drew is living.  Yet he felt called.  And he went.  Living with the pastor of Chawama and his wife, Drew is helping in the church school.  He's also teaching 70 Zambian children the Gospel of John.

Drew is writing a blog of his experiences (you can read it here: http://drewzambia.wordpress.com/) and, in reading it, you can trace the workings of the Holy Spirit not only in Drew's life but in the lives of the people with whom, daily, Drew is living and working and worshiping.  Drew is discovering what it means to live a missional life, and not because he's a "missionary" in the traditional sense, not because he's left behind life in the West to live and work in a desperately poor, desperately desperate Third World country.  He's living a missional life because his life, daily, is an expression of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  He's living God's call to be a blessing to the nations.  He's living what is, in fact, the real work of the church.

I've not been reading Drew's blog.  Not reading it and not responding to it, thereby not saying to Drew, "We care about you and the work you're doing."  The fact I haven't been reading and responding isn't intentional, isn't the consequence of thinking, "I really should read Drew's blog" and saying, "Nah..."  I haven't read it because I haven't made time to read it because I've been too busy doing church work.  Despite all my re-thinking of just what, indeed, is the "real" work of the church, I've been so caught-up in the habits of day-in, day-out church maintenance--the old habits that die hard--that I've overlooked the fact that here, one of our own is not just talking about being missional but is actually being missional, doing what is, in fact, the "real" work of the church.

I'm now reading Drew's blog.  And responding to it.  The reading and responding may help Drew but, even more, it helps me.  It holds me accountable.  It reminds me what the real work of the church truly is. 

Physician, heal thyself.