The Church is a Battleship

There are many ways to describe a church: flock, family, body, community. Each analogy brings a new shade of meaning to what a church is and does. One of the analogies we like to use here at Newton is a boat. Specifically, a battleship.

The Church is a Battle Ship

A battleship has a particular purpose and mission: Fight Battles. The crew quarters are functional, not fancy. Space is optimized for effectiveness. Everyone on board knows their role and has been trained to perform it well.

Like a battleship, in the church:

• Has a mission, the Great Commission
• Has an enemy, Satan and spiritual darkness
• Is optimized for reaching people with the hope found in Jesus.
• Is organized around enlisting and training recruits so that they can participate in the mission.
• Passengers are the crew. Everyone onboard plays a part.

Church is not a Cruise Ship

There are other big boats on the ocean. Cruise ships also carry a lot of people, but they have a very different purpose. Cruise ships are lavish. They are built for entertainment. They sail around, but don't accomplish much! Passengers spend money and having a good time. The crew exists to wait on the passenger's every need.

The church is not a cruise ship! In the church:

• God calls members beyond their preferences to put others first.
• There is no separation of purpose between leadership and the congregation. Both fulfil the mission of Christ.
• We have a good time, but fun is not the focus.
• Training is the norm, and everyone is part of doing the ministry.

So What?

The church is a place for community, for fellowship, and also for mission. God's plan for the church is beautiful. Unfortunately, we tend to mess it up. It's easy to move towards a cruise ship mentality when we become overly attached to our preferences. Often the things that make us feel comfortable.

You can identify which mentality we have by identifying what upsets a person:

• Cruise Ship: "Someone sat in MY seat! Can you believe it?!"
• Battle Ship: "Someone came to church, looking for God, but we failed to notice them."

Sometimes, we need to reset our expectations.

The cruise ship caters to my preferences, the battleship calls me to give up my preferences in service of the mission.