Tonight is the NBA draft where the Mavericks and all the other professional basketball teams bring their best strategies to the table to build their teams with new college players. There is a developmental league – the G League – where a number of “not ready for prime time” players continue to work on their skills hoping they too will be drafted. Many of the NBA teams will draft players from these two sources. Some will not. Some will trade their slot in the draft to other teams in exchange for proven veterans who can impact their team’s goals immediately.
It’s not a tight analogy but an instructive one for the church. In the mid to late 20th century the church in America grew from within – lots of babies, children and youth who came up through our “system” – like draft choices to become veteran church members. That is no longer the case. Birth rates have been down for some time now in the U.S. and there are fewer youth and adults interested in the church. Few of our churches can grow because more home-grown church babies are in the nursery. The only way for the church “team” to reach its goal of reaching more of the world is to acquire more “free agents” – youth and adults from outside of our church to build our team. This has become a focus for our staff but can only be successful if it also becomes a focus of our whole church. The fact remains, a large portion of guests comes because someone invited them to church. As in most things, we feel more comfortable with a personal invitation and referral.
On this NBA draft day, I challenge us all to be “talent scouts” for our FUMC Plano “team.” Who are the rising “veterans” out there that you know who might be interested in a change of Sunday scenery. By this I do not mean members of other churches; swapping members does not enlarge the kingdom. What I do mean are “veterans” of life experience who would add to a team that is seeking to change the world, one relationship at a time. It just might be the best team they have ever played on.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
