By Pastor Mark Maddox, Sanctuary UMC

You hold in your hands a copy of Transformation magazine. Think of that name for a moment, "Transformation." Isn't that what following Christ is all about, transformation?

Inside this issue are wonderful articles written by some very gifted people. I had the honor and pleasure of reading all of these articles before I wrote mine. I honestly stand in awe of the faith and dedication we have in our Conference by those who want to spread the Word of Christ.

I chair the Conference Board of Evangelism and one of the tasks we are given as a committee is to help churches evangelize better than they currently are doing. What a task! So I called about 20 churches in our Conference and asked what they wanted out of our committee and overwhelmingly I was told, "Tools."

So with this in mind your Board of Evangelism is going to sponsor workshops next fall. These workshops are going to be led by a representative from the largest United Methodist Church in the country, the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. One aspect of their mission is to give churches like ours tools to help with reaching out and making disciples.

Now, we're not bringing them here to make all of our churches into "mega churches," not at all. We're bringing them here to help us learn to evangelize in a way that will transform our churches. They will be sharing tools and ideas and a philosophy that will help us all.

But why? Why are we doing this? Why should we worry about growing our churches? Shouldn't we be more mission focused? Isn't that what we are all about?

Maybe it's time we start thinking about our main focus. Here's an example: Have you ever listened to the flight attendant on the airplane when they were talking about the oxygen mask? If you are flying with small children, what are you supposed to do first? The flight attendant tells us to put our masks on first then attend to our children's. Why do you suppose this is? Well, if the pressure drops too fast and you can't get enough oxygen to your brain, you will pass out.

Now, does that mean we should let our kids pass out while we enjoy the luxury of breathing? It sounds terrible, it sounds cruel! But let's look at the reverse scenario. You have two kids flying with you, ages 3 and 4. The masks drop, your kids are screaming, and you try to put the mask on your 3 year old who is fighting you the entire time. So, just as you are about to get the mask on him, you pass out. Now none of you have a mask.

That's what is happening to some of our churches today. We are so busy placing masks on others, we have gotten so busy worrying only about the "issues" and so focused on missional work that maybe we have forgotten to take care of ourselves and grow the church by spreading the word and making disciples.
Yes, I want to feed every hungry person! Yes I want to help every homeless person! But what we need to realize is that we are not running a short race, this is a marathon! For the foreseeable future, there will always be hungry people, but if we keep on this trend, there may not always be Christians. Yes, there you go, I said it.

If we keep focused on the short term results and continue this trend of not taking care of the church which Christ has given us, then there won't be Christians taking care of anyone.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about saving any denomination; I'm talking about the church Jesus started.

So if we want to keep taking care of others, if we want Christ's work to continue forever, then we need to make sure we take care of His church by reaching out and making disciples through all forms of evangelism-including marketing.

So let's ask ourselves, "Is marketing missional work?" At first we would probably say, "no" but let's look at that a little more. What is the purpose of marketing? I would say it is to bring people into the church. So why do we want to bring people into the church? If your answer is because you need volunteers to help with all your missions, if it is so there are new people to fold bulletins, if it is because you need Sunday School teachers, then please don't market. If these are your reasons for growing your church then maybe it's time to start praying about your purpose.
I don't think we should ever market our churches unless the purpose is to change lives. I think many people would say the purpose of missional work is to impact lives, to share the love of Christ with others. That's great!  So let me ask this, can having faith in Christ change your life? Does having faith impact your life? If you answered "yes" then shouldn't our goal be to bring people to Christ?

There are many ways people experience Christ, but I think one of the best ways is through the church. When people worship with a group of believers, when they hear a solid sermon based on the Bible and shared in a way they can apply it to their lives, when they are truly welcomed, life transformation begins. We are transforming lives by making disciples of Jesus Christ. Maybe it's time we all "Go and Make."