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We have to prioritize reaching people digitally—and equipping our people to do so.

Luke captures an interaction between Jesus and his disciples in which Jesus catches them arguing about something. Something…

Stupid.

But I’m sure it wasn’t stupid to them. 

I’m sure it was very serious. I’m sure it was loaded. I’m sure there was a lot that “really hung in the balance,” depending on who won the argument.

Here was the argument: “Who is the greatest?”

As in:

Which one of us is really getting it right? 

We all want to get it right, right? I mean, social media would literally cease to exist if “getting it right” wasn’t important to us. From social media campaigns to cancel culture, who is getting it right (and conversely, who is getting it wrong) drives so many things in and around us.

So like we argue about it now, they were arguing about it back then. Because it really matters—doesn’t it? Who’s getting it right?

Luke doesn’t tell us anything else about their argument. So let’s just imagine for a second.

Some probably talked about holiness. Others probably pitched love. Maybe a few talked about giving to the poor or helping those in need. Still others something about their mastery of Scripture and the ability to understand and teach it. Then Peter probably cracked a joke about how he was the best fisherman—and that made him the greatest.

But then Jesus interrupts them all.

Here’s what he says (paraphrased):

You wanna know who is the greatest? You want me to show you who’s really getting it right? Here.

And then instead of singling out one of them, he asks a parent nearby if he can borrow their kid for a second.

Right here. Whichever one of you makes this kid the most important person in the group—you’re the one getting it right.

Because who you prioritize says a lot about what’s in your heart.

One more time—because it’s so easy for us to forget:

Who you prioritize says a lot about what’s in your heart. 

Jesus was hearing what they were discussing, but he “knew” (according to Luke, anyway) what was going on inside of them. On the surface they were passionately arguing for what it meant to get it right. 

But underneath?

Probably, they were more selfishly concerned than they cared to admit. Probably, they elevated how they thought they were each uniquely getting it right. 

Probably, they were doing a little grandstanding, soapboxing, straw man-ing… maybe even a little passive aggressive judging.

I know. Hard to imagine. But “getting it right” (according to Jesus) is always unselfish—nothing more, nothing less. 

Making a random kid the center of attention rather than whoever is the richest, or the most influential, or the wisest, or the holiest person in the room…

And get this, now: 

Won’t bring you any recognition or get you any further ahead. 

And this is something we forget as church leaders when we ask the same question: Which churches are getting it right?

What do you think Jesus would say to us?

Well, he’d ask:

Who are you prioritizing? Show me, and I’ll tell you if you’re getting it right.

Because who you are prioritizing matters to Jesus. Who you focus on matters. Who you elevate, celebrate, even target… really matters.

Who you are prioritizing matters to Jesus. Who you focus on matters. Who you elevate, celebrate, even target... really matters. Click To Tweet

Here’s a few kinds of people we should be prioritizing—at least, if we want to be in line with who matters to Jesus.

Kids

I think there’s a reason that Jesus reached for a kid beyond just a great sermon illustration on being unselfish. Kids matter to Jesus. The next generation matters to Jesus. As many have said: “Christianity is always one generation away from extinction.”

This might be an obvious one to most churches. Because of course kids matter. But: 

So many churches have made kids more of a growth strategy than a kingdom strategy. 

In other words: we have a tendency to prioritize kids ministry more out of a selfish desire to grow our church than we do a kingdom desire to serve selflessly.

Does our motivation really matter, though? Yes, it does—because it’ll play out in our strategy. 

If kids ministry is just a strategy to grow, you’ll focus almost entirely on environments and programs trying to get people (*cough*, er, um… kids) to come to your church. 

But if kids ministry is more of a kingdom desire to serve selflessly, you’ll make excellent environments and programs 101-level stuff. It’s permission to play. You don’t get on the field without them. 

Building on that, though, you’ll search out and attract great volunteers who want to invest in kids relationally, even if it means they give up more than one weekend a month. 

You’ll think about how to equip parents to disciple their kids outside of church. You’ll do parenting series instead of worrying about how “everyone else” will respond. 

And you might even be more intentional with special needs kids or unchurched kids.

See the difference?

Unchurched People. 

Don’t get stuck on the language here. Unchurched, de-churched, nones, whatever the label: we’re talking about people who are some mixture of “don’t believe” and “don’t come.”

Now, maybe you read that story in Luke and feel like unchurched people aren’t who Jesus had in mind. But I don’t think it’s a stretch. In fact, it’s when you create something in your church for the unchurched and experience how church people respond, when you prioritize people on the outside over people who are already in and get the nasty emails, the anonymous notes, or the votes by feet, that’s when you’ll realize just how selfish your church actually is.

Healthy churches in this regard know that when they’re not hearing any complaints from the people who are already in, they’ve probably stopped prioritizing the people who matter the most to Jesus.

Healthy churches in this regard discipline themselves to always ask in every dimension of their ministry: will this matter to unchurched guests? Will this make sense to them? Is this designed to bring them a step closer to Jesus?

Healthy churches discipline themselves to always ask in every dimension of their ministry: will this matter to unchurched guests? Will this make sense to them? Is this designed to bring them a step closer to Jesus? Click To Tweet

Even the most externally-focused churches are prone to drifting back towards prioritizing those on the inside over those on the outside. A great way to know if you’ve drifted is by asking this question: 

Is there anything that we feel like we’re called to do but are afraid to do because of how “our people” might react?

Whenever “our people” become our primary lens, we’re prioritizing the wrong people. Click To Tweet

Whenever “our people” become our primary lens, we’re prioritizing the wrong people.

Digital People. 

At one point in our quarantine journey, it seemed like it was settled: doing church digitally is still… well… church. Because it had to be. It was literally the only option.

But once churches were able to re-open again, the debate reignited.

And now here we are, spending 80% of our effort on about 20% of our prior weekend attendance (on average). We’ve not only shifted our focus on getting people to come back—we’re focused primarily on getting “our people” to come back.

We’re trying to re-reach the already reached. What the early days of COVID quarantine taught us, though, is still true: 

We can reach more people when we don’t simply rely on a 1-hour-a-week-come-at-this-specific-time-to-this-specific-location during a part of your week where you’d probably rather be somewhere else doing something else.

That’s still true. But now, the novelty has worn off, and the gnawing of empty seats on our egos has kicked back in, and we’re forgetting what we so clearly saw just a few months ago.

Reaching people digitally, even before COVID, was essential to living out the Great Commission in 2020. To de-prioritize it now is not only unwise; it’s unholy.

We’ve all seen the numbers on declining church attendance and the rise of the nones—which means that even if our church is one of the few that is growing, we’re still losing. There are more people who are not being reached than who are.

There are more people who are not being reached than who are. We have to prioritize reaching people digitally—and equipping our people to do so. Click To Tweet

And hopefully we’ve seen the numbers on how people “attend” something digitally every day. On average, Americans are checking their phones 52—that’s five-two—times a day. But hey, let’s keep our fingers crossed that they’ll randomly show up at our place on a day they’d rather be sleeping in.

We have to prioritize reaching people digitally—and equipping our people to do so.

Jesse Tink

Jesse is the Pastor of Campus Development at Prairie Lakes Church, which currently spans across six campuses in northeastern and central Iowa. He’s served in various roles including college, music, production, teaching, and senior leadership. Jesse has led teams in urban, suburban, and rural locations, from campuses of 50 to 1500. Married to Erin, they have their son, Jude, and their daughter, Ellie. He’s outside in the colder months hunting deer and turkey at their family-owned ground, and roots for the Iowa Hawkeyes and New York Yankees.

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