Lost Balls in the High Weeds

Since early childhood, I heard my father refer to certain people as a lost ball in the high weeds. The phrase made more sense to me after I became old enough to play baseball. My father, brother and I spent untold hours looking for miss hit balls that ended over the fence and lost in the weeds. Sometimes we had to step almost directly on the ball to spot it. Every time the ball popped over the fence we collectively let out a sigh of dread… we knew we were in for a long and difficult task. We even tried lifting our 75-pound dog over the fence to sniff out the ball for us. I concluded the dog’s nose wasn’t any more sensitive than mine. The dog found several useless objects, but never a baseball. Not once.

Over the years I have met several people who seemed as lost as a ball in the high weeds. Even worse are organizations that are lost. There is little more destructive to organizations (and individuals) than getting off track; getting lost. The Bible puts it like this: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)

Getting off track, losing your way, abandoning your life mission and vision, is common and comes in many forms. I think of a friend who was in college, on his way to a career, and he fell in lust, err, I mean love, and nothing would do but to immediately get married. With a family to support, he dropped out of school and went to work. For many years now he has worked hard, sometimes at multiple jobs, and just managed to provide support for his family. It has been a constant struggle and challenge that has worn on his body, his psyche, and his marriage. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had waited on marriage and finished college first.

Another friend worked for a very successful business that sold a popular product. Motivated by their past success, the company decided to diversify and add many additional offerings to their product line. Within just a couple of years, they were suffering from severe financial difficulties. They quickly divested themselves of the extra product and again enjoyed success.

As a pastor, I can’t help but note the decline of the North American church in both size and in influence and believe it is a matter of us (the church) losing our way. I make it a habit to ask church leaders, “What is the purpose of the church?” I have received hundreds of different answers. When I point out that Jesus’ marching orders to the church, what we have labeled, The Great Commission, (Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.") is still valid and that the purpose of the church is to make disciples, I am invariably met with a blank stare. What seems simple and obvious to me seems to be Greek to them. (Apologies to my learned colleagues who studied Greek.)

From my readings and conversations with my good hearted but misdirected colleagues, it seems that they believe our task has become to right all of the wrongs in the world through political activity. If we can just get the right politicians into power, they will pass legislation and poverty will end, injustice will turn to justice, hate will become love and inequities will end and we will all earn a living wage of $25 an hour. I hear such conversations and I can’t help but wonder: Are we reading the same book; are we watching the same movie called life?

I have been around a long time and I am a very observant person. I have seen our country under many administrations of both major parties, and nothing much has changed. We have spent trillions of dollars on the “War on Poverty” and have more people living in poverty now than when President Johnson declared war. We are having a difficult time understand that throwing money at poverty doesn’t solve the problem.

Women, who, by law, now have more “rights” than men, are still taking to the streets to demand their rights because they are still being treated unequally. We have difficulty understanding that passing laws does not change the human heart and attitudes.

Legislators have been hacking and chopping at the racial issues of our nation for decades. And yet racism continues to be a significant problem. Is it that difficult to understand that racism isn’t erased through laws and edicts?

Have my colleagues been observing what I have been observing and failed to reach what I believe to be the obvious conclusion that the government is not only inept but is completely unequipped to solve these social problems. They can barely manage to maintain the country’s infrastructure, much less resolve complicated problems springing from the human condition. Problems such as poverty, inequality and racism are only solved through healthy relationships. It takes the individual/personal touch found only in relationships to change hearts, not legislation.

The church that Jesus called into existence is uniquely equipped to deal with the problems of our humanness. First, we have the Gospel message that uniquely meets each individual where they are in their fallenness and brokenness and calls them to new life in Christ. In this new life we find forgiveness, grace, healing, love and acceptance and a growing relationship with the Living God. A life lived in such close proximity to God can do no less than bring positive change. It is a life of endless possibilities. From this new beginning, we have the possibility of being conformed to the image of Christ. This process is called discipleship. (Refer to the words of Jesus quoted previously.)

The next thing the church Jesus designed, made up of growing disciples, makes available to the world is people, who are called to ministry to do things like; love the unloved, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and address the injustices of the world. This ministry is successfully accomplished through relationships… deep, long term, meaningful, honest, transparent relationships steeped in love, loyalty, accountability and mutual respect. It is in the context of such relationships life change can happen.

I am strongly encouraging the North American church to find its way out of the tall weeds and morass of political involvement and re-immerse itself in our original calling of making disciples… Making disciples the church has grown and equipped to change our world. Disciples who are equipped to, in turn, make disciples.

Copyright © 2017, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Bill McConnell is the Interim Minister at Norwood Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press.

He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon