Who Do You Think You Are?!

How do you define the Kalkaska Church of Christ? What kind of church are we? Not what type of denomination. Not whether we are Catholic or Protestant. But what's our focus? There are many pairs of buzz words out there to describe churches in regards to their focus. Missional vs. Attractional.  Inward-focused vs. Outward-focused. Evangelistic vs. Teaching. On what side does KCC come down? It seems like we have to pick a side. But do we have to be one at the exclusion of the other?

Truth is we need to be both! Both sides of the coin are necessary to function as a church. It's a delicate balance that must be maintained to function in the culture we hope to influence today.

First of all, the church must be mission minded. It must be reaching out to new people in order to experience growth. Growth is important because it's the next generation that will carry on the mission of the church. Without growth, any living organism dies. Jesus stated that he came for the "sick" and the "lost." Surprisingly His focus was not on the core "healthy" Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees.  He wasn't saying they weren't important, although they did need to modify many of their man-made concepts of the law, but He was saying we must reach out to others with God's love.

Secondly, the church must also be healthy and that comes from feeding the body. Teaching, preaching, and discipleship are vital to a healthy spiritual body. These inward-focused feedings are found through the Sunday morning gathering and at Small Groups both on Sundays and during the week.

The balance is that we must be both inward-focused and outward-focused. Leaning too far to one side or the other can be detrimental to the church. One blogger has said the church should be "upward-focused." This makes a lot of sense. It's not totally about people whether they are inside or outside the church. It's actually about Him!

I'm very excited about an upcoming sermon series entitled, "Just Jesus." In this series we will explore the life of Jesus and see how He evangelized the lost through his stories and parables as well as how he took care of Himself. He maintained a balance of outreach while at the same time kept spiritually fed through prayer, fellowship, and worship. So, the next time someone asks you what kind of church we are, just tell them we're a church all about Jesus!