Thursday, July 10, 2008

Mission / Purpose of the Church

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, there was only one boat, but a few devoted members kept constant watch over the sea. With no thought for themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this station. Soon the station became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the local area. wanted to become associated with the station, giving of their time, money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought, new crews trained.

Some of the members of the station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds, put better furniture in an enlarged building and used the station as a popular gathering place for its members. Fewer members were interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work.

Then a large ship was wrecked off the coast, the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some had black skin, while others had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos.

At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. most of the members wanted to stop the lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose, pointing out that they were still called a lifesaving station. These members were voted down with "If you want to save the lives of all the various kinds of people shipwrecked in these waters, begin you own lifesaving station down the coast."

This these members did, but the station experienced similar changes as before. The station evolved into a club, another lifesaving station was formed. History continued to repeat itself. The coast line has a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks still occur, but most of the people drown.

No comments: