Sacred Cows

By Pastor Chad

As a church of Jesus Christ, we have specific functions and purposes that have been set by God. We can not change those functions and purposes given by God. On Sunday morning, from John 21:15-19, I showed four functions of the church commanded by Jesus: to love God more than anything else; to disciple; to preach and teach the Word; and to follow Him. These are not the only commands God gives His church, but they certainly are important. 

I concluded my message by presenting the debate surrounding children’s church within the evangelical world. I am neither opposed to children’s church, nor do I want to stop doing it. I like what we do by offering children’s church to a certain age, then asking older kids to attend the main service. But there is a heated debate in the church world as a whole about it. My purpose in sharing the debate was to highlight the importance of our task and the willingness to do what it takes to fulfill it. If indeed we are wanting to worship Christ, and we are wanting to make robust, passionate, and strong disciples of Christ, we must be willing to destroy any sacred cow that gets in the way. If we are doing something that hinders, harms, or stifles discipleship in anyone from the womb to the tomb, then we need to change. As a pastor, I can testify that I agonize over this point (perhaps too much). I am terrified that I lack the courage or the ability to lead the church to adopt a new strategy that better follows Jesus’ commands for His church or that I lack the will to remove any sacred cows harming our flock. On top of it all, I don’t want to encourage a move that would facilitate a scandal and cause some to fall away from the body. 

My point here is that what we do matters. What we focus on matters. The reason behind every activity we do matters. For example, those in education know that everything from the daily schedule, curriculum, length of classes, etc. matters to the education of a child. Church leaders think about the same thing in regards to the activities and workings of the church–or at least, I do. And, no, I don’t think I’m overthinking all of this. Anyone that has studied church history knows this debate has gone on for centuries. I probably don’t think deeply enough about this topic. 

Let me conclude with this, we know Jesus is the one that founded, organized, and calls the church. We know Jesus is the one that established the church. We know the church exists for His honor and glory. With all of that in mind, please pray that the church leadership will follow the Lord’s will in all that we do. Pray that the staff will be led by the Lord to cultivate robust, strong disciples. And pray that we as a whole will be a church that is willing to sacrifice any sacred cow that gets in the way.