The value of unwinnable arguments

Emmitt was among the finest Christian men I’ve ever known. He was retired and available to help make pastoral calls when I was the new pastor learning my way around. He was also a Gideon and distributed Bibles regularly. As a successful businessman, he offered wise financial advice, and he served as treasurer for our church.

But one thing Emmit wouldn’t do is attend any meeting at church when we ate, including coffee and cake at after-Sunday night fellowships. Accordingly, he didn’t favor spending money on our kitchen and fellowship area. He told me, “We don’t need to feed ourselves; we need to feed some hungry people.”

Of course, I offered some counter-thoughts about people eating together in friendship.

It was only later that I heard the late Buckner Fanning suggest the Bible was the “eatingest book” in the world since God’s people feasted a lot!

But Emmitt’s argument had merit and was actually unwinnable. Thus, we enjoyed fellowship without him and he held his peace when he signed invoices for kitchen supplies.

I think modern churches hear many unwinnable arguments. Members say, “We’re not dedicated enough to God’s work,” and “We should pray more,” and “We need to be bold in our witness” and “The preacher should preach with more fervor.” All true. The real crux of the matter, however, is how we achieve and how we measure. And achievement and measurement is a little different now in a post-Covid world.

My dad used to say, “If we build a building and preach the gospel, people will come” – a bit reminiscent of the signature line in the movie, “Field Of Dreams.”

But today some churches struggle to maintain large buildings they don’t need. One church has 20 people on Sunday morning and maintains a gymnasium they built years ago “to reach the young people.” Today many church consultants suggest smaller buildings, but multi-purpose and multi-use.

I was in a building like this a few years ago. The pastor who invited me to speak pointed out the basketball goals retracted into the worship place ceiling. This church was wise in their plans for the future.

But, back to the arguments.

I’ve always believed Christians of good will can find a way forward. We listen to one another, sometimes agree to disagree, but strive to be “one in the bond of love” as the familiar chorus proclaims.

Our denomination has an annual World Hunger Day, and Emmitt was one of the leaders who helped promote this freewill offering when I was his pastor. We honored his passion and let him speak in worship about the importance of it.

We continued to love one another and serve together.

This way, everybody wins.

Reflections is a weekly faith column written by Michael J. Brooks, pastor of the Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama. The church’s website is siluriabaptist.com.