"Will We Follow?"

Dr. George R. Sinclair, Jr.
Pastor

July 1, 2007

                          Just over six years ago our church made a momentous decision to invest $3 million in its future. The Capital Campaign we undertook said in effect, “Government Street Presbyterian Church is here to stay.” This summer, your Session will make an equally important decision when it votes on the strategic plan now before it. That plan intends to grow our church. It intends to grow our church both in enrollment and in depth of commitment.

When the Planning Team was trying to decide how to best present the plan, one member observed that it was on par with the Capital Campaign. And I think he was right, not in terms of financial costs, though it will involve money, but in terms of energy, commitment, and vision. If we adopt the plan, we will not only stake a claim that we are here to stay, but that we are here to flourish.

Churches, especially old ones, require a lot of upkeep. They require even more upkeep when they’re National Landmarks and when they routinely receive accolades like “Mobile’s most perfect building.” Your leaders went out on a limb and you went out on a limb when you invested $3 million in this building. It’s not every day that 500-member churches accept challenges like that, much less pay for them in six years, which I hope you know is an astounding accomplishment. In six years, in addition to funding a $750,000 budget, you gave $500,000 a year to make that dream happen. Because of your faith, Government Street Church is in remarkable health, especially for one 175 years old and one whose city left it behind many years ago. 

Think about what Mobile was like forty to forty-five years ago. Many of you remember what it was like when you shopped just down the street at Gayfer’s. Forty years ago nobody knew what a “mall” was.  The Springhill neighborhood was growing but was still in its infancy. Forty years ago, Brookley Field employed 16,000 people and by some estimates accounted for one-third of Mobile’s gross product. And then you all had to go and vote for Barry Goldwater—I’m just kidding. Mobile was bound to change with or without Brookley. It took more than Brookley closing to close downtown, but from that time forward the neighborhood around Government Street Church changed and Mobile changed—people moved west. Mobile’s population navel is somewhere near Downtowner Blvd, which of course is nowhere near “downtown.” That population shift has not been without effect on our church.

In 1963 Government Street Church reported 1,300 members. It was “the” Presbyterian Church in Mobile and among “the” churches in Mobile. Since then we have lost 800 members. For the last forty years we’ve lost 20 members a year. You can do the math—if that rate of decline continues—we’ll be a church of 300 in ten years. And I doubt we will be able to sustain the ministries and mission we now have if we continue to decline. In fact, if membership continues to decline, we won’t be able to support what we do now well in advance of 2017. Yes, we’ve had new members join. We’ve been gaining about 30 new members a year for the last ten years, but we’ve lost more than that to deaths, transfers, and drop-outs.

Here’s the thing—37% of those who support our church are aged 65 or older. More tellingly, 28% of our total income comes from members over age 75. I’ve been your pastor for five years. And in five years I’ve buried 44 saints of this church. They say the church is one generation away from extinction—and it’s true. And never more true for Government Street Church. 

Simply put, we can’t continue doing things the way we’ve always done them and expect different results, which is why we face such an important decision this summer. The decision we make may well determine the fate of our church.  I say “may” only because I’m a Calvinist. And as a Calvinist I believe God can do whatever God wants to do. But I’m also enough of an Armenian to believe that what we do or fail to do has an enormous influence over the shape and outcome of our lives. God didn’t make us robots, which is not to say, God leaves us to ourselves or leaves us on our own; but it is to say we’re responsible for the life we’re given and for the way we live it—and that includes church life. 

There’s nothing automatic about church life. Nothing insures our survival, not even the churches of the New Testament.  Nobody knows what happened to the church at Corinth or the church at Galatia—those churches have long since disappeared. And there may come a day when we disappear. I’m not ready for that day and I don’t think you’re ready for that day which is why we’re planning for growth, not decline--but growth.  We have a big decision to make and I’m not really talking about the strategic plan as such but what it represents. 

All strategic plans have lots of details. And this one is no different. It calls for things like higher standards for membership, better programs for assimilation, a permanent committee to market the church, better use of resources like the Guesnard House and programs like the Thursday Forum. It includes multiplying the number of Bible study groups we have and adding staff not just to maintain but to grow our church. And yes, some of those details will cost money.  But that’s not the big decision.

The details of our strategic plan, especially those that call for increased spending can feel like the BIG DECISION, but they’re not. Money is small potatoes compared to the big decision.  The BIG DECISION is whether or not we will follow Jesus. If we follow Jesus, the small stuff including the money, will take care of itself. If we don’t follow Jesus nothing else matters. In order to grow we’re going to have to spend money. But money’s not the real issue. The real issue is faith. And if we get faith right, if we follow Jesus, the rest will come. The BIG DECISION is “Will we follow Jesus?”   

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Following Jesus means a lot of things to a lot of different people, but first and foremost, if we take Jesus at his word, it means sharing his homelessness. When we follow Jesus we enter “unprotected mission.”  And by that I mean we aren’t given any guarantees, nothing is automatic, not our survival or depth of commitment or growth. None of that is guaranteed. 

The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve come to realize that Government Street’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. We’ve had it so good. We’ve had a grand and glorious past. And even now we have great resources. I’ve never seen a more talented church. We’ve got musicians, educators, doctors, lawyers, nurses, business and civil leaders. We have all sorts of brains and money—we’re an affluent congregation and I don’t just mean money. I mean raw talent, brains, ambition, all that makes people successful in life. But that very affluence is also our greatest weakness. 

Affluence breeds indifference. And maybe “indifference” is not the right word. Maybe the better word is “forgetfulness.” Success tends to make people forget sacrifice. There was a time, when like the birds of the air, we didn’t have much of a nest.  When you have a really nice nest and when you had a really nice nest for a very long time, you can grow complacent. “Oh, Government Street’s fine. It always has been; it always will be.” If I accomplish nothing else this morning, I hope to disabuse you of that idea. Churches don’t come with guaranteed futures. They never have and never will.

In order to follow Jesus, we must always remain “homeless.”  We dare not bolt down our pews too tightly. We dare not guard our seat at the Table as if it is “our” seat or when the Lord comes he may say, “Rise and give it to another.”

Churches need to stay “hungry.” We need the mentality of rookie players still trying to make the team. When we sit back and take it easy, the train may leave the station without us.  Jesus calls us to “unprotected mission.” He invites us to share his homelessness which means secondly that we must set priorities and make choices.

“Let the dead bury their own dead;” Jesus said, “but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” What could be more important than attending to family business—my gosh—a funeral of all things. “Leave the dead to bury the dead.” What was Jesus thinking? Does God really come before family? What does it mean to say that—that God comes before family? At the very least it means that if family is the most important relationship in life, our relationship to God is even more important. It means when we get our relationship with God right, we also get things right with our families.

To follow Jesus, we must order our priorities.  Everybody here has pressure on them. We’re all pulled in a thousand different ways—work, family, civic involvement—even our leisure time.  Summertime is probably not the time to ask this question, particularly July 4^th week—but where does God fit in?  And maybe that’s part of the problem—even the way I pose the question—as if God had to be fit in, scheduled like a trip to the dentist. “Somehow, I’ve got to make time for Jesus.” 

Well, it doesn’t work that way.  Jesus doesn’t want a little bit of our time. He doesn’t want what we have left over—he wants it all—unconditionally. If our church is to grow not only in depth of commitment but also enrollment, we must be clear about priorities—“Leave the dead to bury the dead . . .” To follow Jesus priorities must be ordered by God’s will. To follow Jesus we not only share his “homelessness” but we also put him first. And when we do we persevere without looking back. Jesus said it this way:  “No one who puts a hand to plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Churches by nature are conservative. Like most institutions that’s one of our strengths—we preserve our past. We stick with what works. And that’s not just a matter of convenience or contrivance but memory. When we gather at the Lord’s Table in a few moments, we will “remember” his sacrifice. “As often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup you remember the Lord’s death until he comes again.” You can’t follow Jesus without thinking backwards—and I don’t mean backward thinking—I mean remembering. But sometimes we get confused and “thinking backwards” becomes “backward thinking.” 

The 1950’s and 1960’s are gone and they’re never coming back. Whatever church God makes of us he will make it because we look forward, because we strain to see, however dimly, however partially, where he leads us. I want to honor the past; I want to honor the saints who’ve gone before us but that’s best done by fully living in the present as they did. And to live presently means to live creatively. And when you live creatively you also risk failure. In order to succeed, in order to grow, we must be willing to risk failure. And to do that means we must persevere.  And we will persevere when we keep our eye on the goal—on the kingdom of God.

Government Street Presbyterian Church is part of a much, much greater project. And that greater project—the one Jesus called “The kingdom of God”—is where our eyes must be trained. When we honor the kingdom, when our trust and our hope and our work aims toward the kingdom—toward the reign of God in heaven and on earth—then we will be and build the church God calls us to be and build. 

I am committed to that and I know you’re committed to that. I love this church and I know you love this church.  I’ve never been with a more faithful people.  Government Street is rare among churches, which is why God calls us to great things, not just to survive, but to thrive and flourish. And whatever God calls us to do he will supply. All we have to do is follow. And when we follow we will be the church God wants us to be. Amen.