Every year in high school, my children are required to complete a science project.  This year, my youngest daughter studied and wrote about three common ailments of the human eye.  Before she turned her paper in, she asked me to proofread it.  As I did, something caught my eye - myopia.

                Myopic Churches

                                  
              Seeking a Cure for Our "I" Problem
                                                       by David Parker 

Every year in high school, my children are required to complete a science project.  This year, my youngest daughter studied and wrote about three common ailments of the human eye.  Before she turned her paper in, she asked me to proofread it.  As I did, something caught my eye - myopia.

Myopia is "a defect of the eye that causes light to focus in front of the retina instead of directly on it, resulting in an inability to see distant objects clearly.  An elongated eyeball or a misshapen lens often causes myopia.  Myopia is also called nearsightedness."  Unfortunately, the human eye does not hold exclusive claim to this malady.  I think churches can contract myopia; and I believe many have.

Myopia is an "I" problem.  A church has myopia when it is unable to see distant objects clearly (i.e., people outside the church).  It is one which suffers from nearsightedness (i.e., too self-absorbed to notice the neighbors or the nations).  A myopic church expends the greater part of its time, effort, and funds on itself.  Symptoms of myopic churches are evident in the weekly church calendar, in the income/expense report, and in the attitude of its people.  Suggestions for self-diagnosis may begin with some of the following questions: "How much of what the church does in the course of a week is for its members?"   "How much of a church's overall giving is expended on itself?"  "How much of what the church does, is being done to "keep" people from running off to the church down the street?"   Obviously, every church needs a nursery to care for the new arrivals, and new converts will have special needs and require special attention; but if the majority of what a church does is self-focused and self-congratulatory, there is an eye ("I") problem.  Churches should not be telling one another, "Look what we did."  Instead, they should be telling outsiders, "Look what God did!"  Myopic churches are not mighty missions churches (neither at home nor abroad).

Does the main segment of your congregation want to give or receive?  Generationally speaking, older people who were raised by God-fearing parents and experienced a level of hardship, know how to give and give and give and to make sacrifices.  They are contributors and producers.  But this is foreign to many of the younger generations.  They still have their hands out expecting to receive.  Some churches feel that catering to the whims of selfish adherents is a necessary evil while the leadership pursues a biblical teaching agenda, which they believe, will countermand the tide of selfishness.  However, statistics say differently.  Such churches inadvertently contradict their own preaching by their practice.  Churches operating their calendar primarily to cater to "club members" find that they have to continue to do so for the long haul.  Every parent knows that he teaches his children by his actions (i.e., deeds not words).  Parents who raise their children, giving them everything they want, communicate to their children that everything is about them (the children).  Children experiencing this philosophy of child rearing grow up to be selfish adults believing that everybody owes them something.  By the way, when selfish children do not get their way, they throw a fit.  If you want unselfish children, you do not focus on them all the time; and if you want unselfish churches, you do not focus on the "club members" all the time.  Preaching the right message is important, but practicing behavior consistent with that message is equally critical.  As one of my college leaders so often said, "Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks."  What does your church "walk" say?

Churches that want to keep the world in view (evangelistically speaking), need to walk the "others" walk not just talk the "others" talk; otherwise, the church that they want to be will not be the church that they are.  What is the remedy for a church suffering from myopia?  First, a church must be willing to "pay" for the cure, and the payment is the realization that some of the people will want to remain selfish, and they will leave when the church no longer serves their needs.  This will hurt.  Nevertheless, is the goal a big church or is the goal a big reach?  Is the goal a church, functioning as the body of the selfless Savior?  A church must ask, "Who do we want to please?"  Second, a church must be patient.  Few things are like Jack and the Beanstalk, changing overnight.  Radical shifts would do more harm than good.  Finally, a church must begin taking gradual steps toward focusing some of its activities and more of its funds on people and projects that benefit people outside the church.

Truly, a New Testament church has the eyes of the risen Savior.  May every local church pray for eyes to see the way the Lord sees and then to talk and walk to that end.

David Parker