By Jeff Christopherson
CCSB President
I am grateful to be a part of the CCSB family for many reasons—but never more grateful than now. God is doing something in our convention that expresses something of His Kingdom agenda.
Too often, the contemporary church has priorities that reflect the agenda of darkness; that is the call to “save ourselves” (Mark 8:35). We often concentrate our planning on decisions that will ensure institutional security. But what if decisions which prefer institutional advancement over Kingdom sacrifice were actually decisions of darkness? That is something that many of us have been thinking about.
That is why I am so excited about the culture of the CCSB. Growing up in Saskatchewan, I was blindly unaware of the gift that I was being given by my pastor, Jack Conner. He quietly led the people of Scarborough Baptist Church to become involved in planting new churches and helping and supporting existing churches. This was what the church did. We didn’t question it. There were no discussions of the autonomy of the local church (or the autonomy of the local pastor).
There was so much work to do in the mission that God had given us that we didn’t have time to close ranks and concentrate on ourselves. Jack knew that the assignment from God was one which was bigger than earthly principles of addition (church growth). It demanded the Kingdom principle of multiplication, which requires the sacrifice of “giving ourselves away.” Looking back I can see that this culture was a gift, a rare gift to be treasured.
I think that for a while, I forgot about the gift. Church growth became important—maybe too important. The impulses of growth require singular focus on the discipline of darkness called, “saving of ourselves.” With the forgetting comes a lifeless, autonomous, self-centred version of church.
But, I do not think that we are forgetting anymore. It has been my joy as president of our convention to see so many examples of congregational selflessness; churches helping churches for no gain other than knowing Jesus’ smile. This is exciting.
Godly leaders like Jack Conner taught us that the Kingdom has a King. And guess what? We pastors are not it. The Kingdom has a realm, and it is bigger than my church. The Kingdom has an objective, and it has little to do with institutional security. It has everything to do with the impulses of unselfish faith.
I believe that the culture from which our convention in Canada was birthed is well-expressed in the CCSB Church to Church Covenant. It describes the values of the Kingdom in a way that should continually remind us that we do not exist for ourselves, but for the purposes and pleasure of our King. He alone is the autonomous one.
May I never forget again.