In my previous post, Avoiding Lukewarmness, I looked at Jesus’ letter to the church at Laodicea and argued that lukewarmness describes a church that is not producing disciples. Hot water heals and cold water refreshes, and both of them do something for the person who drinks. What is wrong with lukewarm water is that it does nothing for anybody.

The Laodiceans were not idle. Jesus knew their works. A church can be busy with programs, events, and genuinely good causes, yet if none of that activity results in changed lives — if it mostly gives good people a venue to keep doing what they were already doing — then it is lukewarm, however full the calendar looks.

It is tempting to hear that as a call to add something: a new program, a new class, a new initiative. But Jesus’ counsel to Laodicea was not to do something new. It was to buy from him the gold, garments, and salve they had been supplying for themselves. The problem was not what they were doing but where they were getting it. A church may not need different activities so much as a different source for the activities it already has.

Continue reading “Discipleship in the Committee Room” →