David Lee
By David Lee, BCM/D Executive Director
I was talking with someone recently who told me about his experience on an airplane. He entered the plane and sat down in his seat beside a gentleman wearing a mask. The man explained, “Don’t take offense. I am a surgeon and I cannot afford to get sick.”
We have such an important task as Christians in a world filled with sickness, the most severe of which is spiritual sickness. We can help people find healing. Yet, in order to do so we ourselves must remain healthy.
Too many of our churches are not healthy. Some are even toxic. Before we can make a significant impact on our communities and our world, some of us are going to have to be restored to health.
The steps are easy to outline, but hard to accomplish.
• We must take an honest look at ourselves. Do a health assessment of your church.
• Identify the areas of unhealthiness and develop a plan for addressing the issues.
• Seek the needed resources. You may need to look beyond your church for help. Your state convention staff and your local Director of Missions can assist.
• Magnify your strengths while you seek to address your weaknesses.
• Before all else, and above all else, understand that spiritual issues cannot be addressed by programs and processes, especially if there is “sin in the camp.” Only God can fix the heart.
• Bathe all that you do in prayer.
Realize that the return to spiritual health can be a lengthy and arduous process fraught with difficulty and often pain. But it is necessary in order for us to be the church God intended.
We don’t need to wear masks. If anything, we need to take off our masks and get real before God and one another.
However, you may want to still stick a mask in your pocket or your purse if you are getting on a plane!