One Body, Many Parts: Of Short-term Missions, Soup Kitchens, and Church Splits

In our home group last night we looked at some length at what the church is. We looked at the Biblical definition of church, and identified the first factor that makes us (as a people) a church: God’s calling. We are called, as Peter says, to be a ‘chosen race’ (1 Peter 2:9). It is this calling of God that first distinguishes us as ‘the church’.

We then looked at the purpose for which we have been called ‘a people’. Peter continues to tell us that our purpose is to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” There is very little argument here – just about all Christians would agree that the purpose of the church is to bring glory to God through the proclamation of his Excellency.

At this point, the conversation kind of veered in a direction that I had not envisioned. Even within a fairly small and intimate group of believers it became obvious that there was a difference of opinion as to how that purpose should be accomplished. Where we might all agree as to what the church is and why the church is, we began to diverge at how the church is to accomplish her purpose.

After a little more search of the scripture, it became (to me) obvious as to why this should be. While we have all been called out as a church and given a purpose as a church to perform, we have all been gifted in different ways.  We ended up in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul speaks at length about this very issue. If I had to guess, I would say that the Corinthian church had become divided as each individual or group with a common interest began to push their own way as the correct way to pursue the purpose given the church. His words to them:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV)

Paul is telling the church that indeed God has given them each gifts to use in the building up of the church. You are empowered by the same Spirit, he says, but that Spirit manifests itself in diverse ways through many gifts, areas of service and activities. How many church splits happen because we don’t understand this? If one group within the church is interested in short-term overseas missions, and one desires to start a soup kitchen, which is right (by the way - these categories are arbitrary and hypothetical)? Well, so long as each is exercising the calling and gift which God has given them, they are both right. They both desire to build up the body of Christ, just in different ways. But what happens so often is that rather than encouraging one another to be used in our gifts, we become protective of our ‘specialty’ and begin to view other ‘specialties’ as competition for limited resources within the body. So the soup kitchen crowd decides to start their own soup kitchen church and splits from the body as a whole, dividing the body from it's necessary parts.

There are several things at play here. First, both groups have forgotten that it is the same Spirit that brings about every work that the church is involved in (hopefully - but that’s a subject for a different post). In our human short-sightedness, we become proud of our own gifting, as if it were from us and not God. When that happens, we begin to look down on those around us and start thinking that ‘we’ are the real church – leading us to think we don’t need the others. Could this have been the case in Corinth? Paul’s letter is a response to the Corinthian’s own letter to him, and one can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t some whining going on. Along the lines of “if these people are going to start a soup kitchen and refuse to join us in short-term missions, then we don’t need them”. See if you can detect where that might be the case based on Paul’s response:

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:14-20 ESV)

In effect; the soup kitchen folks might think that because they are not interested in short-term missions they are not a part of the body. But indeed they are because they have been called by God to be a part of the body and given the same Spirit as the short-term mission folks. If the soup kitchen folks split and start their own ‘specialty church’, where would they be? They might be able to support a fantastic soup kitchen for a while on the strength of their gifts until it became obvious that without those gifted in administration, evangelism, teaching and so forth they are not a church. As Paul says, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?”

In the end, what I came away with last night is that we each need to pursue that to which God has called us. Moreover, we need to encourage others to do the same. If God wants the church to begin a soup kitchen, he will gift enough people in that ministry to make it happen, and likewise with short-term missions. Each is of equal importance because in the end each is worked by the same Spirit. I need not feel guilty that I am not called or gifted to participate in everything that every group is called to do. At the same time I should not expect that every individual in the church is going to participate in my area of giftedness. But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. He knows what we need, and has given those in the body who are gifted to meet that need. We are one body, and we need each part if we are going to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless