Being Church for Others

There was a devout woman full of love for God, who used to go to church every morning, and, on her way, some children and beggars almost always harassed her, but she was so focused on her devotions that she didn't even see them. One day, she arrived at the church at the precise moment in which the service was to begin. She pushed the door, but it didn't open. She pushed again and found that the door was locked. "Something weird happened today," she thought. Sad for not having been able to attend the service for the first time in many years, and not knowing what to do, she looked up, and right before her eyes, she saw a note pinned to the door. The note came from God and said: "I am out there."

"The church is only a church when it exists for others," said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This contemporary martyr was concerned about the church, and he was especially focused on its inability to abandon itself and give itself to others. According to him, there was much more passion to defend the cause of the church, but little faith to face the challenges of the world. Being a church for others contrasts with being a church for ourselves. The dilemma is to fulfill the call or to lock us up to meet our internal needs.

"To be, or not to be," Shakespeare would say. Christ's model for his church is that of a pilgrim group of people whose mission field is the world, its cause are both the Kingdom and its distinctive service to others. Jesus presents himself as a paradigm of our role in the world. The pages of the New Testament clearly show that the church is a church when it exists for others. Jesus calls his disciples "salt of the Earth" and "light of the World,” and adds a challenge: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

It is time to build the ability to critically self-examine and ask ourselves about our reason for existing and evaluate our work agenda. The Latin American theologian, Harold Segura, suggests the need to reinterpret the identity of the church. He believes that it is incorrect to link the church to the Kingdom and/or to the world, because it would lead either to an idealistic and abstract church, disconnected from real history, or it may lead to a secular and mundane church. The church is an instrument of the Kingdom and is to serve its cause, never to take its place, he says.

As for the role of the Holy Spirit, he says that the most popular interpretation causes believers to move away from the affairs of the world and put our hope in the hereafter. But being a church for others demands us to break the shell of our intimate mercy and open ourselves to the world that has been created by God. The Holy Spirit is called to move in the social and material dimensions of life as well. He is the creator who gives life, protects and redeems it. The last aspect that we should include in the reinterpretation of church is its mission. We have assumed the mission in terms of evangelization and proclaiming Christ as savior. This emphasis has reduced the role of the church to its minimum expression, turning any service into mere evangelizing strategy, losing the sovereign sense of God's grace. 

The mission is comprehensive, and it includes multiple dimensions with which our churches are in debt. Topics such as social responsibility, responsible reconciliation, the promotion of life, the defense of human rights and works of mercy are also part of the church's agenda.

Everything that is done in the name of Jesus is mission and all mission is participation in the mission of Jesus. Service and mission go hand in hand. The church lives off its mission. Wherever the church lives, it should ask itself whether it is at the service of that mission or if it has turned to be an end in itself.