Making A Difference

Today we begin the final countdown in this Holy Week. We will recall the night of Jesus betrayal, remember his passion and death, and then celebrate the resurrection and new life. The nagging question kept creeping into the back of my mind as I prepared for this week, What difference does it make?

As the United Methodist Church and other denominations look at declining numbers both in terms of members and resources, and we try rearrange our structures and priorities, I think we also must ask what difference does it make? In Matthew's account of the resurrection, Jesus appears to the Disciples in the upper room and gives them the assurance that we are to go make Disciples of all nations (or all people), and that we have nothing to fear for he is with us always. Sometimes our actions as a church don't necessarily communicate the fact that we do believe Christ is with us.

Our world has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. People have changed, from the way we access information which has also changes how we create and maintain our personal relationships. People are busier, and don't necessarily have time for everything. So in being a part of a church people will ask, what difference does it make. Today people can download a sermon at 2 AM, read their Bible on their phone or tablet while waiting at the dentist office, and pray while stuck in traffic or any place else for that matter. And that is just one scenario, the possibilities for more are almost endless. They can get everything they need to know (or think they need to know) about God without having to get up and go to a Sunday morning worship service and hear and do the same thing. In the end what difference does it make?

Well I believe the question the church has failed to ask in this difference making has a whole lot more to do with making connections and building relationships, than belief alone. When a church is doing something that makes a difference besides listening on Sunday morning, people will take notice. When people see that our communities are being transformed, the poor are being served, and the sick are being healed, then they too will see it is making a difference and want to be a part of that community form relationships and grow together in faith because it is making a difference.

In this time of resurrection and new life, how will we go out and make disciples, and how will those disciples make a difference?