Taking Mondays seriously on Sundays
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
| Gil Cann
How can such a tragic situation be accounted for? I believe one major reason is this – these people do not take their faith seriously because most of the churches to which they belong do not take their members daily lives seriously.
Their members make little connection between Sunday and Monday because their churches do not take their ‘Mondays’ as seriously as Sundays. Hence the huge disconnect.
After speaking at a large regional church recently I was approached by a young man who told me, “In this church we pray for the ministers, the elders, the deacons, the youth leaders and the Sunday School teachers”. Then he asked me with deep concern, “Wherever, whenever are we going to pray for the plumbers?”
Good question! And for the teachers, the bus drivers, the farmers, the students, the businessmen, the builders, the nurses, the retirees, the public servants, the managers, the laborers, the electricians, the administrators, the engineers, the computer programmers and the truck drivers. When are we going to pray for them?
This young plumber was expressing the heartfelt concern of thousands of Christians around this country who long for the day when their churches will take their Mondays seriously on Sundays. Their failure to do so is, I believe, one of the major reasons that Christians, especially younger believers, are steadily leaving churches of all kinds everywhere.
As the challenges and opportunities of honouring God and sharing the Gospel increase in this post-Christendom era, Christians are becoming more aware of their need for equipping, encouragement, and support by prayer.
Similarly, they are seeing more clearly that the primary ministry of a church is not (as we used to think) what the minister does and the regular round of activities, services, groups and programs, but that rather it is the sum total of everything which its members do and say in every situation in which they find themselves on every day of the week.
It is crucial, therefore, that Christians’ daily spheres of influence be recognised as very important ministries of the church to which they belong. The best way to do this is to include in every Sunday service a few minutes when at least one person can tell about their daily situation, be it workplace, neighbourhood or both, and about the challenges and opportunities these present.
One of the most vibrant, authentic church services I have ever attended was in a small country church. Only eight people were present. There was no organist or music, and, at least on that day, no minister.
During the service two of the people, one a nurse and the other an auto-electrician, told of their desire to honour the Lord and reflect his love to their colleagues, patients, workmates and customers. The other six people present gathered around them and, in prayer, commissioned them to their daily spheres of influence, in the same way that they would have commissioned missionaries about to go overseas. And why not?
Even though I have been in meetings and services with hundreds, and sometimes thousands of people present none of them do I remember as vividly as this small gathering. There was such a sense of reality of God’s presence and his blessing on this event. I have no doubt this was because these people were doing what God wants his people to do whenever they meet, that is, take each others’ ‘Mondays’ seriously on Sundays.
This needs to happen in every church, large or small, every Sunday. It would have a profound effect on many aspects of our churches, including the quality and effectiveness of their evangelism.
Gil Cann has vast experience in Christian ministry, as an evangelist, pastor, speaker and trainer of leaders.