Interview with Tom Ellsworth

By Brad Dupray

Standard Publishing”s Vacation Bible School has provided concentrated, “true-to-the-Bible” Christian education for young people for more than 80 years. VBS is not limited to young people, however. Standard provides correlated study for adults, as well. This year”s theme, “God”s Big Backyard,” is coupled with Tom Ellsworth”s new book, Beyond Your Backyard. Tom recently celebrated his 27th anniversary as senior pastor at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church in Bloomington, Indiana. He is a graduate of St. Louis Christian College and holds a MMin from Cincinnati Bible Seminary. Tom and his wife, Elsie, have been married for 30 years and have two daughters, Emily and Rebekah.

Beyond Your Backyard sounds like an evangelistic approach. Is that what this book is about?

There”s definitely an evangelistic feel to the book, but I wouldn”t describe it as a book about evangelism. It”s about getting beyond your comfort zone, building relationships with people in hopes you might have the opportunity to talk to them about Christ.

Who leads in looking over the fence, the church as a whole or its individual members?

I think there”s a little bit of both. From the standpoint of trying to fulfill the vision, a lot comes from the leadership. We have an opportunity to make a difference in our communities. Once the people catch that vision, they become the grassroots, the groundswell. They think of things I would never think of. So it has to be both.

You begin the book with a quote from Billy Graham about “unselfish Christian service.” What is the motive behind Christian service?

Christian service has to be unselfish for it to be Christian service. It”s unselfish from the standpoint that what I do for someone else in the name of Christ doesn”t necessarily benefit me as a person. When you serve others in the name of Christ, you do receive a blessing. There is a sense of fulfillment, but when you serve others in the name of Christ there are no strings attached. That is unselfish Christian service. Selfish Christian service is an oxymoron””the two don”t fit!

There is a trend toward outward service in churches these days. Is this a fad, or is it more than that?

Churches have been caught up in fads before, but I don”t see genuine service as faddish. Maybe some of the application of the philosophy is a fad, but the concept of getting beyond ourselves, building relationships with people so we have the opportunity to speak of Christ, is biblical. That”s not a fad, that”s scriptural.

What are churches doing beyond their backyards?

I think the theme of the “externally focused church”””people doing things of value within their community””resonates with people, especially the younger generation. They help specific organizations (like Boys and Girls Clubs, public schools, or the parks and recreation department) accomplish things they couldn”t accomplish otherwise. A church can provide a team of 50 people to help them accomplish in a couple of hours what would take weeks to accomplish otherwise.

Has the church been too inwardly focused?

I suspect it has been. I say that with some caution because I don”t think it”s an either/or proposition. The church”s mission is about reaching the world, but as I understand it the church has two very distinct, important roles””and the other is to disciple believers. You can”t expect people to go out and accomplish what God wants us to accomplish beyond the walls if we”re not training, equipping, and supporting them inside the walls. I think it”s dangerous to let the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction where we become so outwardly focused we forget the importance of teaching and equipping believers.

Can a church become so outwardly focused that it leaves its members behind?

Yes. Which is a caution. It”s not just either/or, it”s a both/and. You add the outward to what you”re doing inwardly.

Has the church missed Jesus command to “go” in the Great Commission?

Not intentionally. I think the church has always intended to go, but in the practical application of that we have reinterpreted the “go.” For part of our outreach the “go” has been “come.”

So has the focus been too much about what happens within the four walls of the church building?

In the past, evangelism was saying to people, “Come to church with me.” We expected the world to beat a path to our door to learn about Christ. Today the church must go where people are and meet them on their turf. We have seen a real change in our culture. People aren”t coming to us first, we have to go and build relationships with them.

What needs to happen within the walls of the church building to make the church more effective outside those walls?

People have to be challenged to change their perception about reaching others. Church leadership must model a new approach and provide opportunities and ideas to stimulate their thinking. Try this. Try that. Check out this new idea.

But there”s not anything wrong with inviting people to come into our backyard, is there?

That”s not a problem, but a lot of people aren”t going to come until we have a relationship with them. The culture is not going to stop by the church””it”s probably not going to happen if there”s not a relationship. The church is much more suspect today than in the past. We have to build a bridge to the community, where in the past we didn”t have to do that. We can”t take society”s approval of what the church does for granted.

Aren”t there a lot of organizations doing good things for society?

There is nothing wrong with doing good things for others. But if that”s all we accomplish, then we are no different than any other civic organization that does good things for humanitarian efforts. What must set the church apart is our ultimate motive: it”s not just doing what helps people now, but what will make a difference forever. Only the church can impact eternity. Being external in our outlook is a means to an end, it”˜s not just an end in itself.

Has the church lost its “edge” in being a provider of social service to its community?

Where the government used to see the church as being a vital part of the community, the culture is now suspicious of us. We need to prove why we belong, why we make a difference, and why the church is an important part of society.

How do the Bible stories in Beyond Your Backyard exemplify, or maybe not exemplify, getting out of their backyards?

It”s about moving beyond yourselves in family relationships, like Moses and Miriam. Then there are four friends that take their paralytic buddy to meet Jesus. That”s real friendship and reaching beyond. The Good Samaritan teaches us to reach out to people who are not friends or family, but who are a part of our community and need our help and encouragement. And then there are always mean people in our lives. Jesus talked a lot about how to respond with kindness in the face of bullies. Of course, he had his own bullies to deal with.

What”s the best way to use this book?

Five of the chapters fit the Vacation Bible School theme, so this book can be used as the VBS study for the adult program. But long after VBS is over I hope it can be used as a stand-alone in a Sunday school class or as a small-group study. It appeals to people on a variety of levels in their Christian experience. I”m hoping the book will challenge people to think beyond the common, ordinary thought process to how they can do something significant in this life for Jesus Christ. Anybody in the kingdom can reach out and make a difference””rural, urban, small, large””and that”s our best way of helping people come to know Christ.