In Tuesday’s Morning Prayer, we heard about Gideon and his army of 32,000 soldiers. The Lord instructed Gideon to march toward the East and conquer those lands by force. Yet, upon arrival, God does something interesting: He tells Gideon to keep “only those who lapped water from the river,” and to “send the ones who cupped their hands back to their lands.” Rather quickly, the army’s number dwindled from a great mass of 32,000 to a meager 300.
Sparta, anyone?
Outnumbered and vastly overwhelmed, Gideon takes his second, Purah, and infiltrates the camp of thousands, just to hear what they’re saying. God told Gideon that he’d feel better about his chances once he heard the stories for himself. When he arrived at the camp, he heard the soldiers speaking to one another about dreams and omens, and he was convinced. Hurrying back to his encampment, he rallied his troops, sieging and seizing those lands and defeating that army.
The point of this history lesson is two-fold:
I think they should make a movie about Gideon and his army and call it “The Other 300”; and second, God doesn’t need thousands to conquer. Our God just needs us to be faithful and show up.
So many churches in the United States and across the world are small. Their largest complaint seems to be, “We need more people in order to be viable. We need to get young families, increase money, start new ministries, get the older generation involved more, and not change how we do things at all.” Of course, this is a bit tongue-in-cheek but there’s a nugget of truth within. We often request ‘more’ when we already have what we need. We refuse change in the name of tradition, to a poor fault. We seek to build bigger storehouses and deeper bank accounts when in reality, God used a guy dressed in camel’s hair to usher in Jesus’ coming.
That guy ate bugs and didn’t own anything except a rad hairdo and a wily sense of ministry. And he shaped the beginnings of the Church.
We have enough. We are enough. Whether we have 70 or 700 on Sundays and throughout the week matters little; what matters is the depth of faith we possess to do the work God calls us to do as us. ‘Us’ as we are, not as we think we should be. In a world that seemingly tears itself apart and departs from faith, we are the frontline army. We’re the ones wielding swords slashing away at evil with loving words. We bear shields as bulwarks against a tide of hunger, loneliness, exclusion and depravity. We put on the armor of love in hopes that when we march into the world it will see us as a beacon and not a group of do-gooders who don’t put their hearts where their mouths are.
God doesn’t need a big army. God desires a strong one.
Whether your church has twelve or two hundred; millions or pennies; three chapels and a sanctuary or a small room; you can do the same impactful ministry that your desires call for ‘more’ in other areas.
Let’s be us. God calls each of us by name to be ministers in our own right—not to change into something we’re not, but to strengthen who we are in Him. That’s the Church I serve in my heart, the Church of the future. The Church of the past. The rag-tag rebellion and the vast army. Big or small, we’re all giants.
Let’s make this Church a present. The gift to the world that Jesus Christ was, is, and always shall be.
Faithfully,
Fr. Sean+