How salty is your church?

How tasty is your world?

Talking to every Christian, Jesus said: “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” (Matt 5:13 - The Message)

These questions (i.e. the topic) dropped in my heart when I listened to Bishop David Oyedepo a few months ago. He said that

"We're the salt of the earth,

not the salt of the church."

Therefore, in my opinion, those who remain salt in the church and only in and to the church make the church too "salty." I'll explain...

Job rightly observed that: "Food without salt does not taste good, and the white of an egg has no taste." (Job 6:6) Conversely, food with too much salt in it is repulsive, rejected and sometimes spat out.

I believe that is why Jesus talked about salt in a different way in Mark 9:50: “Salt is good. But if it loses its salty taste, you can’t make it good again. So, don’t lose that good quality of salt you have. And live in peace with each other.”*

It's sad to note, but the truth is that our churches are doing too much "preaching to the choir"** rather than reaching out to the world. When we're not recycling members and playing what I'd call "spiritual musical chairs," we're playing on the merry-go-around with a "life as usual" mentality. The cartoon on the right may seem funny and it is but it says a lot to me. In Mark 9:50, Jesus reminds us as salt to live in peace. I suspect that some people are "tired" of being "salt as usual" and want to "spice things up" - and hence end up either challenging or annoying others as pepper.

If we all take the "Salt of the Earth" mandate seriously, and actually spend more time reaching out or giving back to our communities, every one will be busy and engaged with "life unusual" and I can assure you every one will be more fulfilled. Everyone is happy when the add value and feel valued.

As salt, our "content" is only as valuable as our impact on the world. Assess the "salt-content" of your church and get some of it out of the salt-shaker (i.e. the church) into the world that desparately needs preservation from decadance. In Acts 17:6b, some Christians were reported to rulers: "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too."

Sadly, we live in an upside down world - we need to turn it right(eous) side up. We're 210 days into this year - with 155 days to go... I encourage you to come up with programmes or even challenges for members of your church to postively impact their communities. The world needs intervention - Divine intervention.

As Mrs Pastor, ask yourself: "How salty is my church?" "How tasty is my world?" "What do I need to do and enable a more tasty world?" "How can I intervene, not just intercede?" Beyond our knees on the ground which is critical, we must have our feet on the streets and be relevant. Let's be like Jesus...walk our talk.

Sources:

* Easy-To-Read Version
**refers to the pointlessness of a preacher attempting to convert those who, by their presence in church, have already demonstrated their faith. (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/preaching-to-the-choir.html)