Growing the Neighbourhood

This past weekend I did two things that really impacted my understanding of and leading worship around the Great Commission. To some it might have seemed unorthodox to preach on Mother’s Day and Christian Family Sunday about Jesus telling us to make disciples of all nations, but I saw it as His challenge to grow our family rather than staying where we are, content with the current crowd.

Friday night I went to see a production of Godspell, a musical based on the gospels, that I was part of at my high school in grade 11 that would forever change the trajectory of my life. It was put on by K2K Productions of Youth for Christ here in Woodstock and it was the first year that they had expanded their very successful program of mixing small groups ministry with kids and a theatre production to high school students. The bios in the program highlighted how important the K2K program is to them and how they find Christian community and teaching and support there that changes their lives.

Saturday night, scrolling through Netflix for something to watch, I came across the documentary about Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood, a show I watched for years growing up. The movie told of how he became ordained as a Presbyterian minister after studying child psychology and how he wanted to be a positive influence in the then new medium of television for children. He began his tv show as a ministry to children because he felt so strongly about the messages being given to them through media.

If you have chance to watch the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, I highly recommend it. It is magical how he used puppets and simple stories about life to inspire children and provide a place of safety. Footage shows him meeting and talking to children and using a puppet to draw out their feelings and true selves. His empathy is remarkable and his warmth and unconditional care is amazing, and carried into the show. As someone said to me recently when I mentioned that he was a televangelist without ever saying Jesus’ name, “he didn’t have to”. He spoke the universal language of love and acceptance and modeled the gentleness and compassion of Christ.

As I reflected on the youth in Godspell and on Mr. Rogers, I pondered how our fulfilling of the Great Commission in 2019 looks dramatically different from that of the first disciples. We have so many tools at our disposal that transmit messages world-wide in an instant. We have people who may have a cursory idea of what Christianity is about or who have abandoned, it as well as those who have never heard about it. Sharing the message these days seems to demand immense creativity and flash in the midst of the oceans of information available to us 24/7.

We are all called to somehow share the gift we’ve been given, the understanding we have of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. The ways we do that are as diverse as posting scripture and inspirational messages on social media, performing musicals like Godspell, serving those in need, creating television programming and youtube videos, writing apologetics and blogs, preaching and teaching. But the less flashy and obvious are just as effective - getting to know a new friend and sharing about church life and offering an invitation to come along, being a good neighbour, looking in the community for a place that fits your passions to volunteer and be a positive presence.

When I took my first year theology course there were about 40 students in the class representing 15-20 denominations. To say we didn’t always agree was an under-statement, and one thing we didn’t agree on was the basis of Christian mission. While some felt that the only reason to go to other countries was to convert, others argued that providing relief and development was just as important and just as saving of those people and showing them Christ.

It was an interesting conversation, and reminds me that as brothers and sisters in God’s family some of us are better at certain things than others, such as boldly inviting someone to convert or providing bread and compassionate care to those in crisis. We are all needed to help spread God’s love and to expand the family. May we all not just be content to let someone else do it but strive to discern the role God wants us to play in sharing Christ. Perhaps we’ll even make new friends and grow the neighbourhood.