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There are many ways to describe a church: flock, family, body, community. Each analogy brings a new shade of meaning to what a church is and does. One of the analogies we like to use here at Newton is a boat. Specifically, a battleship.
A battleship has a particular purpose and mission: Fight Battles. The crew quarters are functional, not fancy. Space is optimized for effectiveness. Everyone on board knows their role and has been trained to perform it well.
Like a battleship, in the church:
There are other big boats on the ocean. Cruise ships also carry a lot of people, but they have a very different purpose. Cruise ships are lavish. They are built for entertainment. They sail around, but don't accomplish much! Passengers spend money and having a good time. The crew exists to wait on the passenger's every need.
The church is not a cruise ship! In the church:
The church is a place for community, for fellowship, and also for mission. God's plan for the church is beautiful. Unfortunately, we tend to mess it up. It's easy to move towards a cruise ship mentality when we become overly attached to our preferences. Often the things that make us feel comfortable.
You can identify which mentality we have by identifying what upsets a person:
Sometimes, we need to reset our expectations.
The cruise ship caters to my preferences, the battleship calls me to give up my preferences in service of the mission.