Part 1: Sacrifice

This is a first part of a series based on this post. What would sacrifice look like in the modern church? How can we get the church to where it needs to be? How can we improve our individual lives in this regard?

I don't think I've ever set foot in a church that didn't, at least sometimes, suggest that we sacrifice our "time, talent and treasure." It's one of those phrases that they must teach in the "Fundraising 101" class in every seminary, because it pops up every time we start to talk about sacrifice.

In fact, there are quite a few people in any congregation who are willing to donate significant amounts of time and money to the church. So, why do we say that most modern churches are not particularly sacrificial? There are a couple of reasons:

First of all, it's not sacrifice unless you are giving something up. That means that donating money that you weren't spending on anything significant or time that you were going to spend watching TV, while helpful, is not really sacrificial. Giving up watching the Sunday morning talk shows is not a sacrifice. Along the same lines, using the church as a vehicle to pursue your own hobbies is not really sacrifice either, and yet this is precisely what the church is asking for when they ask you to "donate your talent." Taking something that you were going to do anyway because you enjoy it, and doing it within the umbrella of a church organization is not sacrifice any more than it is following Christ. It is little more than painting the word "Jesus" on your old, worldly life.

Secondly, there is the problem of who we are sacrificing to. Jesus calls us to present ourselves as instruments of the work of God, and yet the church often calls us, first and foremost, to sacrifice to the church instead. Sacrificing to God is much broader in scope. It requires us to serve others -- even others outside of the Church, with whom we might not feel entirely comfortable. This is the kind of sacrifice the church needs to be calling for. Real sacrifice is rarely comfortable.

These are the elements of living a sacrificial life as an individual. Churches need to be calling for sacrificial lives from their members, setting good examples for each other (based on the ultimate example of Jesus Christ), and holding each other accountable. If you are a member of a church, you can do your part, even if others aren't reciprocating. Think of it as your first big sacrificial act.

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Of course, a sacrificial church is more than just a collection of sacrificial individuals.

In fact, now that we've talked about making sacrifices to God, there's one more set of sacrifices that needs to be made before we have sacrificial churches. For the church to be a sacrificial organization, we who are part of it need to be willing to make our sacrifices together. That means that we need to be willing to sacrifice to each other. We need to be willing to relinquish control to each other, to the group, and to God. For all the talk about church leadership, what the church needs is not more leaders. What the church needs is more followers.

If you believe that sacrifice is something that is missing in the church, this is your responsibility as well: when the opportunity arises in your congregation to do the work of God -- the real, sacrificial work of God in the world -- be willing to relinquish control and do the work of God with your church, even in ways that are not your ways.

After all, there's somebody in the church whose ways are higher than ours...

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