The "Acts Church" no more...?

Hi Everyone,
I was doing my Bible study this morning from a workbook called "Sent" by Ed Stetzer and in it was a modern parable on the Church. I've been praying about whether this would be my blog this morning because it impacted me so. Please bear with me - it's a narrative - no pictures this time - just a story and it made me sad. Tomorrow I'll be back with pictures and how our Saturday outreach went.

"On a rocky seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there once was a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a shack, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members of a crew kept constant watch over the sea; and with no thought for themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for those lost in the dangerous waters. Some of those who were saved, along with various others in the surrounding area, wanted to help with the station, so they gave their time, money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Then some of the members of the life-saving station grew unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equiped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and placed better furniture in the enlarged building. The life-saving station became a comfortable gathering place for its members, who began to view themselves as a kind of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club's beautiful decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club's initiations were held. About this time a large ship wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick. The beautiful new clubhouse was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside where victims of shipwrecks could clean up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split among the members. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities since they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Yet a few members insisted on life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station. So they did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you'll find a number of beautiful, exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown."

Amen.
Eileen and Crist