Broken people will flock to the church. We can debate all day long about whether the church should be attractional or not. What we should really be talking about is how the church should be attractional.
Ultimately, if all we’re doing is putting on a good show, playing good music, and preaching good sermons, we’ve probably missed it. But if we are attracting people with an uncompromising truth, an unconditional love, and an unlimited grace, we’re on target.
The fifth core value of Grace Hills Church pertains to our bleeding passion for the least, the last, and the lost …
We are crazy about broken people. We hunger to see people healthy and growing and we’ll get our hands messy to make it happen.
Being crazy about broken people, for us, has some serious implications. For example…
We expect broken people to act broken. Expecting people to act fixed before coming to this house of healing is a little ridiculous. The church helps people find a place to change rather than requiring people to change before finding their place.
We believe God’s truth has healing power. It isn’t our cleverly-designed ministries that heal people – it’s God’s truth. So it needs to be presented without compromise, saturated with love, and balanced with grace.
We believe that all of us are broken by our own sin and the sins of others. So we understand and we find healing in Jesus together. Some of us are more shattered than others, but all of us are broken.
Healing the broken is a labor of love that takes time, compassion, and involvement. Embracing brokenness is never convenient or easy. It takes time, costs money, and forces us out of our comfort zones.
Healing the broken is a key priority. Before we build buildings, borrow money, add staff, start new initiatives, and make major changes we ask the question, how can we find and heal more broken people?
Healing is a journey. None of us arrive at the destination overnight. We’re all works in progress. Our role is to initiate change, create a clear pathway for growth, and help people find their next redemptive step toward maturity. For us this means…
1. Worship services where people are warmly welcomed no matter how they appear, free to praise Jesus from postures of both joy and sorrow, and where God’s truth is passionately made plain.
2. Small groups where confidence is respected, transparency is allowed, authenticity is embraced, and encouragement and accountability are offered.
3. Classes and special opportunities for growth in various areas are made available.
4. Counseling and recovery ministries are an assumed future as we grow into them.
We never stop looking for the next broken person.
I’m convinced that Jesus was crazy about broken people. He hung out with them, spent time with them, conversed about life with them, touched them, and found His place among them as family even though they ultimately rejected Him. So I’m also convinced that Jesus is crazy about churches that do what He commissioned them to do – get crazy about the broken.
I don’t care if our church is “big” or “successful” in the secular sense of those words. But I’m absolutely determined we will be a healing place for the broken!