Sometime ago one of my colleagues, a bishop in a major metropolitan area, was touring north Africa. He was amazed to see huge ruins of what in the early years of the Christian faith had been very large Christian churches.
My friend remembered that the African Christian church had once been strong and influential, not only in Africa but in the world of that day. Major African Christian schools had produced pivotal church leaders. Creative ideas had emerged from north Africa. Now all that remained were ruins, and less than one-tenth of one percent of the people in that region were now identified with Christianity.
What happened? My friend remembered that the Moslem invasions in the 6th and 7th centuries had ravished that part of the world, and he reasoned that the Christian church had been overrun and almost wiped out during that period of history.
In his book Jesus Christ, The Same, Dr. James Moffatt maintains that if you had entered the sanctuary of one of those large north African churches in the earliest centuries, you would have found the image of Christ at the center of worship, symbolizing the fact that Jesus Christ was at the center of the mission and message of that church. If you had entered one of those churches a bit later, you would have found that the image of Christ had been set to the side. Something else had been placed at the center. If you had entered one of those churches sometime later, you would have discovered that the image of Christ was nowhere to be seen or perhaps at best in a shadowy corner.
Dr. Moffatt suggests that this change in the centrality of the image of Christ represented a shift in the people's view of Christ, and in the mission and message of that church. Christ was no longer at the heart of all they believed and did. Something else had taken first place. Moffatt maintains that when the invasion of the Moslem hordes began, the Christian church was so weak that it fell from within, unable to present a faith strong enough to face the zealous Muslims.
The church could not stand because it lost its true center. There is a strong word in that story for us today.
The Apostle Paul directed the Colossian church to remember who is number one in our faith. He said the preeminence of Christ is at the very heart of our message and mission. The focus of the word is "that he might come to have first place in everything" (Col. 1: 1 8). In the Christian church, it is "Christ above all."
We need to hear this word in our day when often the concept of Christ is pale and weak. In a day when the "Jesus Seminar" and Sophia worship capture the attention of many of our people, especially our leaders, we need to hear again the word of the New Testament—"Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, KJV). In order to be a strong church with a relevant mission and message in our day, Christ must come to have first place in everything. Christ is the heart of all we are, and the essence of the story we have to tell to the nations.
What might happen if we tried to place Christ at the heart of our church?
Suppose for example, we put Christ at the center of concern for all of our children. We are reminded that children account for 25 percent of our population, but 100 percent of our future.
What kind of potential is represented in a single child? What happens when we do not support children in the fullest realization of their potential? Bishop Kenneth Carder of Tennessee recently wrote that our church might well be accused of child negligence. We so often get caught up in the maintenance of an institution that we forget the supreme value Jesus placed on one little child. We are so intent in our day-to-day maintenance matters that we neglect millions of hungry, hurting, and disadvantaged children all over the world.
Our neglect is not just of those around the world. It also centers on those for whom we have special responsibility in our own local church, and those who live within the shadows of our own steeples. We have such magnificent facilities—often the best in our communities—yet we too often stand by while latch-key children are awash in an after-school world of violence and temptation. Several churches can witness to the fact that trained volunteers can adequately provide care and recreation in our own church facilities making a difference in the lives of children and in the community. The United Methodist Church must focus anew on our children, both at home and abroad—that is, if we truly desire to put Christ first in everything.
What would happen if we put Christ above all in our outreach ministries? Church budgets tell some sad stories, revealing that we too often concentrate on or own needs and neglect efforts to "go ... and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 8:19).
Recently, I made a financial studdy at the request of the Southeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops. The results showed that within the last 15 years the purchasing power of our outreach giving decreased by almost one-half, while the purchasing power of our local church contributions almost tripled during the same time. What might happen in our churches if we put Christ's mission to the forefront of our budgets? Those figures do tell us where our heart is. But outreach goes beyond budgets. It involves time commitment in our own daily lives.
What might happen if we put Christ above all in our daily witness through word and deed? Are we committed enough to fulfilling Jesus' desire to reach all people that we make efforts to introduce them to Christ and the church?
In 1933, a family moved into a new community in northern Kentucky. The family was distraught and confused over a separation and divorce, as well as their relocation into a totally new environment. It was a painful time. I know, because it was my family, and I was a sophomore in high school. On that first stressful day in the stark loneliness of a new place, there was a knock at the door.
It was a young man about my age named Virgil Grayson. He asked, "Do you go to Sunday school and church?"
"We used to," I said.
He replied, "My brothers and sisters and I, along with some neighbors, go to the Methodist Church. It means a lot to us and we'd like you to join us next Sunday morning. We will all be walking and will be by your house about nine o'clock. Come join us."
At nine o'clock on Sunday morning, three boys were dressed and ready to go to Sunday school as a dozen young people came walking down the road singing. We joined them. That morning led to many more church experiences which resulted in my commitment to Christian service and 60 years in the ministry.
One boy thought knowing Christ was important enough for every person that he knocked on our door. That one knock opened up a whole new life for a family, and for one boy in particular.
Is Christ important enough to you to knock on a door? Do you really believe that "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life"? (I John 5:12).
Do we believe that Jesus was fight when he declared, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6)? If Christ is that important to life, isn't he worth a friendly invitation, or an offer of companionship and fellowship? Isn't he worth the telling of his story where it makes a difference? The Christian community came into being and continues to exist because those who believe in Jesus love him enough to say, "Come and see." Does he mean that much to us?
Can we proclaim with the hymn writer, "I love to tell the story, it did so much for me; And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee"?
Is Jesus valid enough in your life that you can recommend him? I must honestly say that if he meant enough to all of us we wouldn't see the sorry statistics of United Methodist membership decline.
There are so many ways we can find to give God first place. Of course, we must first allow the grace of God to touch our own lives—to be born anew. We must first sense God's call in Christ and respond. Then we give him first place in our lives and he can use us to witness for him.
A recent conversation I had with a retiring chairman of the board of an industrial conglomerate moved me deeply. I asked him what he was going to do in retirement and if he and his wife were planning to travel.
"Well, some" he said, "but for about six months each year I'm going to work in a hospice center in town."
I thought he might be planning do some administrative work, but he explained he planned to do bedside care. I asked him why.
"Most of my life the folks in this community have worked for me," he said. "Now, I would like to give some time and help to them in their difficulties." This is how one dedicated Christian plans to witness—not just in word, but in deed.
The real issue is the value of Christ in our lives. Is he important enough to us to be our priority? Unless we believe in the centrality of Christ, he is likely to be just another good teacher, along with many others, who points us to God. But if we believe that Jesus is the unique Son of God and "in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:17) and is himself "all the fullness of God" (Col. 1:19), then God will release his power in our lives and enable us to give him first place in everything.
Many years ago, I heard Dr. Nels Feree, a brilliant theologian at Vanderbilt School of Theology, tell of his journey to America to study for the ministry. His family was distressed at the time of his departure and everyone was gathered at the little railway station in Sweden to see him off to the port city to embark for America. His brother and sisters all crowded around him crying, knowing they would not see him for years. As the train pulled into the station and he prepared to board, his mother stepped up, put her arm around him and said, "Nels, always remember Jesus."
"That word," said Dr. Feree, "sustained and steadied me in a new world with new experiences and continues to sustain me today."
Always remember Jesus. As Christians, this is the saving name that will sustain us and give us power for the living of these days.
We are reminded in the words of a hymn, "Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe; It will joy and comfort give you…wher-e'er you go."
Take the name of Jesus with you. It will make a difference to you and perhaps a significant difference to someone else. Let him have first place in everything.
Edward L. Tullis is a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church. As bishop, he served in the Columbia, South Carolina and the Nashville, Tennessee Area.
This article was published in Good News magazine (March/April 1996).