Transforming Cities

Through the years, the body of Christ has been criticized for being personality-driven and events-oriented. Success in ministry today is too often measured not by the response to the altar call but by church attendance, the number of preaching invitations a pastor receives and whether the congregation gets revved up during worship services.

But I believe true ministry isn’t measured by what happens inside church walls, but by the change that takes place in the communities outside it. God’s purpose for man on this planet has not changed. He told us in Genesis 28 to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue and take dominion of the earth. If that isn’t community transformation, I don’t know what is!

My wife and I were met with much resistance when we moved our congregation, the Potter’s House Church, to a new facility in a declining community in west Jacksonville, Florida. We were taunted with racial slurs, and someone painted “N—go home” on the side of our building.

But after we spent years restoring dilapidated buildings to house such ventures as a school, day care and mall, the same people who protested the church began to celebrate our efforts and embrace the gospel.

We’ve created more than 200 full-time jobs, sparked new construction projects and brought millions of dollars of income into a financially depressed community.

Fighting crime, educational disparities and social decadence is the mission of the church. It’s what the gospel is all about. When we obey God’s Word to reach the world around us, we can impact people’s lives in unimaginable ways. The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “They shall build the old ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations … But you shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God. You shall eat the riches of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast” (Is. 61:4, 6).

The true test of a ministry’s effectiveness is found in what I call the departure test. If a church were to relocate or close its doors for good, would the people in the community grieve or celebrate its departure? It’s sad to say, but in many cases no one would even notice the church was gone.

Pastors and congregants should never forget that we do not exist for the sole purpose of meeting in comfortable buildings to worship God. And we are not called to sponsor special events with well-known speakers to make us look important.

We are called to be agents of transformation. We are made in the image of God, and when God sees us He should see a reflection of His love for mankind. Romans 8:19 says, “The eager expectation of the creation waits for the appearance of the sons of God.”

Spiritually hungry people are waiting for believers to show up in their communities. Get equipped and get busy. Your neighbors are waiting on you!

Bishop Vaughn Mclaughlin is the founding pastor of The Potter’s House (potters-house.org) in Jacksonville, Florida.