Along a brutal stretch of coastline battered by storms stood a tiny rescue station. A shack. One boat. A handful of volunteers who watched the sea with vigilance. Whenever storms rose, they launched. Whenever ships broke apart, they rowed into darkness and cold. Many were saved.
Over time the station grew. More volunteers joined. More boats were purchased. Comfort increased. Complaints arose that the building was too crude, so renovations followed. A bigger hall. Better furnishings. Carpet. Slowly, the rescue station became a club. Fewer members wanted to head into the storms. Crews were hired instead. A ceremonial lifeboat stood in the entrance. The mission remained in the symbols, not in the behaviour.
After a major shipwreck, dozens of half-drowned people were dragged inside. They ruined the carpets. Members were horrified. Showers were built outside so the rescued could clean themselves before coming in.
Debate erupted. Some suggested abandoning the messy work of rescue altogether. A few insisted this was the very reason the station existed. They were voted down. They formed a new station down the coast.
History repeated itself. Again and again. Today the coastline is lined with clubs decorated with nautical symbols and a lifeboat in every hall. The storms still rage. The shipwrecks still happen. The drowning still drown.
The problem was never the sea.
It was the drift of the rescuers.[1]
A fairy tale? Maybe. I don’t know. But I do know the reality to which it points. Churches that are planted to save the lost. Christians who venture out into the storms of life to offer a lifeline to drowning people. The church grows. Then people get busy serving in the church. The ministry takes time and calendars get full. There are people to care for, small groups to run, kids to teach, youth to wrangle, rosters to fill, conflicts to resolve, committees to manage, budgets to meet, vacancies to fill, buildings to maintain, crises to overcome.
Over the years I’ve been involved in planting churches and pursuing ministry with the intention of reaching people who don’t know Jesus. We want to see people saved. We’re a lifeboat to rescue the lost, not a pleasure cruise to satisfy the saved. But the pressures of ministry grow. Our priorities bend toward the insider, while the outsider is increasingly forgotten. Our timetables and budgets shift inwardly. We lose our sense of urgency, and the lostness of the lost, and the wonder of glorious gospel, and the reality of heaven and hell.
I think that I have been one of the causes of mission drift. I’ve taken my hands off the rudder and floated with the currents and tides. I’ve been knocked around by the winds and the waves, and I’ve failed to keep our church on course. The pressure and overwhelm of issues in the church that I can see, has sometimes blinded me to the lostness of others that I can’t see. There have been periods when regular, planned, resourced, intentional, outreach hasn’t happened at all.
Jesus promised “I will build my church” in Matt 16:18. This sounds like a focus toward outsiders, reaching out with the gospel, to see people saved. However, if we translate Jesus as saying (literally) “I will edify my church”, then it sounds much more like Jesus is planning to grow the church into maturity. Similarly, in his great commission (Matt 28:18-20), Jesus calls his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. This sounds like a call to evangelism. But then he adds “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” and this sounds more like edification.
The truth is that Jesus is building his church in numbers and maturity. The same gospel word does both. People are saved by responding to the gospel in faith and repentance, and the church is strengthened as believers continue to respond to the gospel in faith and repentance. Outsiders come to Jesus through the gospel and insiders grow to be like Jesus through ongoing faith and repentance. And here’s the thing: as Christians grow more like Jesus, so they grow in their love for the lost. As Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, so the maturing church goes to seek and to save the lost.
It is an immature church that is satisfied with looking inward and meeting its own needs. The healthy growing church will be focused on Jesus, on following his plans and purposes. It will demonstrate its maturity by its love for outsiders.
Are you growing into maturity in Christ? Who are you seeking to see saved?
Do you belong to a healthy church? How is your church showing the love of Christ for those who don’t know him?
The letters of the New Testament reveal how a passion for the holiness of God’s people does not overshadow the importance of rescuing the lost. In his very pastoral letter, to a very messy church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul maintains his priority of working to see people saved:
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God – even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1)
[1] Paul Brennan and Dave Jensen, Evangelism in the Local Church, Made Alive Press, 2026, pages 21-22.
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