Today my youngest nephew and godson turned one. He's a sweet boy with big blue
eyes, sticky-up brown hair, and incredibly long eyelashes. He was baptized last May,
and, I pray, will develop his own relationship with God as he grows up, and will in time
serve God in whatever way God calls him to.
In many periods over the last two thousand years, the main way that the church - and
the Christian faith - grew, was through procreation. Christian people had children, and
those children took on both their parents' faith and their place in the church. When birth
rates were high (and infant mortality rates low), the church grew. But when birth rates
dropped, the church struggled.
If you've seen recent statistics on church membership, you'll know that most
denominations are losing members. Birthrates aren't keeping up - we can't rely on
babies to keep our numbers up. And so we've been forced to begin to think once again
about mission, about reaching out beyond our own immediate families with the good
news of God in Christ.
Not that this is anything new. When Jesus began his incarnate ministry here on earth,
to be Jewish was a birthright. But as he preached and taught his way around the
countryside, it became clear that by contrast, to be Christian was a choice. Jesus began
not with families, but with twelve men, commissioned to go and preach the gospel and
to make disciples, baptizing all those who believed in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. That became the model for the growth of the early church, with
followers of Christ taking any and every opportunity to share the good news with others,
whether it was to a government official trailing inna coach, a prison warder, or crowds
gathered in a marketplace.
In the twenty first century in urban, suburban and rural Long Island, our experience is more like that of Jesus than that of those intervening centuries. Now matter how much
we cling to the idea that retaining our children and grandchildren will assure the future of
the church, the reality is that what we need to do is what Jesus asked of us - mission.
Mission is about going out into the wider community with the good news of God in
Christ.
Our baptismal covenant makes this explicit. "Will you proclaim by word and example
the good news of God in Christ?" We are invited, even commanded, to share the good
news in what we say and in what we do. Both at the same time.
God is relying on us to do the work of mission. If we don't share the good news, who
will? And so it is incumbent on us to look around us and see who might need to hear
that good news. To offer to pray for them when they are struggling, to give practical help
when they are in need, and above all, to invite them, as the apostle Andrew did with his
brother Simon Peter, to come see the Savior.
Meanwhile, my nephew continues to grow. His parents take him to church; in time, his
father will read him bible stories at bedtime; his grandparents will pray for him; I'll talk
with him about faith; and he'll experience the love of the body of Christ. And he will
make his own decision about whether to follow Jesus. God willing, his answer will be
yes.
