Sacrificial Service That Wins a Community
Wynne Gillis contrasts two church building stories to show the difference between self-protection and sacrificial service. One church gave away its building fund to help heal a divided community, while another focused inward on filling its own budget. The article calls churches and believers to serve like Jesus, giving themselves away for the gospel.
- A Montana church invested its building fund in a neighborhood swimming pool as an act of ministry and healing.
- The article contrasts sacrificial service with a self-focused approach to church growth and fundraising.
- Jesus’ example of washing his disciples’ feet frames the call to radical, selfless giving.
By Wynne Gillis
It was a new church in a midsized Montana city—a seeker’s church—dedicated to taking the gospel to outsiders who have never heard it or who are not even sure they want to hear it.
Like many such churches, it was meeting in temporary quarters—a school auditorium or a vacant storefront. But as it grew and strained the capacity of its meeting place, the church dreamed of a building all its own. A good deal of money had been carefully saved and dedicated toward that end.
Then the community around the church got into a big fight. Most people in that part of the city wanted to build a neighborhood swimming pool. It was brought up for a citywide vote—twice—and defeated both times. Most residents in other parts of the city didn’t want their tax money used for something they saw as benefiting only one neighborhood. People in the church’s area were disappointed and resentful. The issue was becoming deeply divisive.
The Lord strongly impressed on one of the church leaders that it was the church’s responsibility to step into the breach. The church decided to take all its precious building fund money and invest it in the swimming pool as an act of ministry and healing.
Wow!
If you know how the kingdom works, you can guess what happened next. This generous, selfless church ended up growing so much it was able to finance its building, as well as the swimming pool. But church members gave themselves away first, without any expectation of return . . . or even of appreciation. They sought no commendation, except that of the One for whom they did it.
But who can resist love that comes wrapped in such sacrificial service? It’s positively winning . . . because it is so rare.
Funding the Budget
I was once a member of a church that was in a similar building mode. Unfortunately, it was so focused on raising the necessary money that I never heard, “How can we serve the community?” Instead I heard, “How can we get the community to serve us?” One man bluntly said, “We need to get enough people in here to fund the budget.” The church members would never have given that money away—especially for something as frivolous as a swimming pool.
No wonder that church put up its building but has never filled it.
The second story is the norm far too often, isn’t it? For over the years, the church has lost sight of the Lord’s heavenly equation: the one who loses, gains; the one who gives, gets; and the one who serves like the lowliest of slaves is the Lord of all.
Jesus answered a dispute among his disciples about who was the greatest by saying, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them . . . but not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. . . . [For] I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:25-27*).
Then, on the night before he was to suffer and die, at a time when only the important things are said and done, Jesus washed their dirty feet.
It’s difficult for us to see this in its cultural context. But imagine an honored dinner guest grabbing rags and a toilet brush and heading for your bathroom before you all sit down to eat.
Talk about breathtaking service!
To make sure the disciples (and the rest of us) got it, Jesus said, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:15-17).
Serving Him, Serving Each Other
There are different ways of being a church, just as there are different ways of being people. Every church has its own flavor, its own personality, and its own ministry.
But the Lord calls us all to serve him by serving each other—in radical, selfless giving.
I wonder what would happen if we—both individually and as churches—asked ourselves, “How can I give myself away for the gospel today?”
We might just turn the world upside down.
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*All Scripture verses are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
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Wynne Gillis is a Christian writer living in Bozeman, Montana.
