1 Corinthians 9:19-23; Mark 1:40-45
February 12, 2012
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
If our church burned down tomorrow, would you give $10,000 to replace it? As someone who’s been coming to this church for a lifetime, this church would mean so much for you. This church may have been the site for your wedding, a Bible study where you met your friends, the baptism of your children, Day Camp for your kids, Christmas Eve services when you lit a candle, youth group meetings when you met new friends, singing in the choir, senior center gatherings and finally the funeral of a loved one. If you were asked, would you give $10,000 to replace the church if it burned down tomorrow? You probably would.
Well, the church will probably not burn down tomorrow, but still, it needs your $10,000 if it is to remain vital and strong. How much is our church worth? Last Sunday at our Annual Meeting, our financial statements said that we are worth over $2.1 million.
What if we put a dollar value to some of the ministries that we have at FCBC? What’s the dollar value of young adult class in which lifelong friendships are established? 5-weeks of Day Camp that introduces a child to Jesus? A counseling session that saves a marriage? A youth group meeting that prevents a suicide? A senior center gathering that reduces isolation and loneliness? A choir that teaches people how to sing? A Sunday school class that teaches children right from wrong?
Add them up, and what do you get? How much is all of this worth?
In today’s epistle reading from 1 Corinthians 9, Paul is exploring the economic aspects of ministry. Just earlier before our text for today, Paul makes a strong case for the right of preachers to be paid, insisting that, “the Lord commanded that those who proclaimed the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14). Thank you for paying me!
Paul and I don’t want you to get worked up about pastors’ salaries because I am adequately paid. In fact, Paul sets aside his right to receive a salary so that no one will accuse him of profiting from the gospel. I’m also not telling you to not paid me either! Paul’s reward is that in his proclamation, he will make the gospel free of charge (v.18).
Isn’t this the attitude that we have here at FCBC? To make the gospel free of charge? To serve the community freely, with open hands and generous hearts. And make no miscalculations—what we provide is extremely valuable.
Free but How Much?
In the summer of 2010, a professor from the University of Pennsylvania and a secular research group based in Center City Philadelphia searched for a dollars-and-cents answer to the question, “How much is your church worth?” With calculators in hand, they attempted to calculate the worth of the church to the community—what they called the economic “halo effect” of a religious congregation. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer (Feb. 1, 2011), they investigated a dozen congregations in Philly—10 Protestant churches, a Catholic parish and a synagogue.
Looking at the overall mission, ministry and day-to-day activity of the church, they added up the money spent on weddings, funerals, street fairs, counseling programs, preschools and elder care. They included the salaries of church staff members and the wages of others who worked around the church—roofers, plumbers, snow shovelers. A dollar value was attached to intangibles, such as working to help people find jobs and teaching children to be socially responsible. Looking around the church campuses, they even measured the diameters of the trees. There’s value in the three trees in front of our church.
And what was the grand total for the dozen congregations? Over $50 million in annual economic benefits. That’s a lot of value.
While we may say on paper that our church is worth over $2.1 million in our cash in hand and the value of our building, we are worth much more than that!
Community Value
A question that pastors are asking ourselves when we meet is: If our church suddenly disappeared, would anyone miss it? Do we bring any value to the community in which we exist?
I believe we would be missed. I believe our worth in the community is a lot more than what our building is valued at and what we might have in the bank in cash. The worth is found in the ministry and mission that have real value in the community around us. In our worship services, Christian education, youth programs, sports ministry, Friday Night School, Day Camp and counseling services, we have some true treasures. With such valuable resources, we should share them generously.
The Apostle Paul has such an enthusiastic outward focus that he says, “I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them” (9:19). He sees the people around him as potential recipients of the gospel, and he pledges to do anything he can to win them over.
To help the community to see the value that Paul brings to his ministry, he said, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law…so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law… To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak” (vv.20-22).
While some of these verses are perplexing to us, trapped as they are in the particular dynamics of life in first-century Corinth, the overall thrust of Paul’s approach comes through clearly: He wants to accommodate himself to the people around him, so that they may receive the valuable benefits of the Christian gospel.
“I have become all things to all people,” concludes Paul, “that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings” (vv. 22-23). Paul’s approach is the same one that we should be taking today as our congregation tries to reach all people and save some. We do this when we open our church every day for students to come in to learn English and citizenship. We do this when we reach out to 100 community kids for summer Day Camp. We do this every Sunday when many of our children in our Sunday school classes are from our Chinatown neighborhood. We try to reach out to all people and pray that what we do God will save some.
Everything we do—from weddings and funerals to fellowship groups—is for the sake of the gospel, so that we might share in its blessings.
Maximizing Our Gifts
There’s one thing that Paul said that we need to qualify—No church truly can be “all things for all people.” Trying to become such a church will bust the budget and exhaust well-intentioned members. We need to be strategic in our outreach and try to do a few things well. We know this already.
We have learned some years ago that we have only capabilities in Cantonese ministry and not Mandarin so we recommend that those who are seeking Mandarin ministries to go up to the Presbyterian Church on Stockton Street. We have tremendous strengths and gifts in English-speaking ministries and now have two strong and vibrant English worship services. There’s clear value in creating and designing worship experiences that speak to people from a variety of backgrounds.
Located in the heart of Chinatown, still one of the first ports of entry to America, we offer English classes through City College and then offer Friday Night School to the same students when the city college teachers want to start their weekend early and we have abilities and capabilities to teach English as a Second Language. We can see clear value in newcomers’ learning English and finding a church home.
Last Sunday, one of the powerful messages that Dr. Roy Medley experienced at our church is our multigenerational identity. He couldn’t stop commenting on the fact that there are youth, college students, and young adults in our church! We are strategic in reaching out to the younger laity of the church because we absolutely believe that God is calling us to reflect our extended family to become the multigenerational family of God.
There’s amazing value in all-church events like Membership meetings, all-church clean-up days, joint worship times, and the all-church picnics to have members and friends representing all of the different life stages present. I learn so much from talking with you who have walked this journey before me and with those who are involved in new technology that I have never dreamed of.
One of the greatest values that our church has is Sunday morning breakfast. For over 11 years, Joe Chan and his kitchen helpers prepare breakfast for us—eggs, waffles, spam, oatmeal, fruit, juice and Lanna Coffee. This has been the place and time to gather us early for fellowship and table grace. And I can’t even count the number of times that I have invited people to come to church and the first thing I say is that we serve breakfast and if you come as a first-timer, it’s free. This is a very valuable ministry of our church that is worth all the tater tots that Ore-lda makes!
Meeting human needs and building relationships are priceless. Our congregation has value because it provides us with personal and spiritual growth, through all the seasons of life. But when you calculate the true worth of a church and the cost to replace it, you have to look outward and think of the ways that it extends the blessings of the Christian gospel to others.
Worth It
This University of Pennsylvania study wanted to measure the effect of social “goods” that churches provide a community. These are usually overlooked such as preventing divorce or suicide, or turning a person back from addiction.
Existing research has already put a figure on the economic value of a marriage saved–$18,000. Averting a suicide is considered to be worth $19,600.
What is the worth of our church? A man and his young son went to church and when they came out the father was complaining that the service was too long, the preacher was no good, and the singing was off-key.
Finally the little boy said, “Daddy, I thought it was pretty good for a dollar.”
One of the most-viewed YouTube videos of all time is the April 11, 2009, the debut of singer Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent, the talent competition that inspired American Idol. When Susan took to the stage, looking for all the world like a shy, frumpy housewife, a wave of amusement went through the audience. You could almost hear the people saying to one another: “This is going to be good. Just wait till the judges pull out their knives and carve up this poor victim’s performance!”
But then, Susan opened her mouth and sang. And did she sing! She had chosen “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. The sheer, expressive power of her voice left the judges sitting back in their chairs, open-mouthed. Even the famously critical Simon Cowell seemed at a loss for words. It was a stunning upset.
Where had Susan learned to sing like that? The answer: in church. Her most extensive performance experience, before that night that launched her global recoding career, was singing in the choir of Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Blackburn, Scotland.
Without the church to encourage Susan Boyle and help her nurture her God-given talent, where would she be today? Where would we be if it weren’t for the valuable life-changing ministries of FCBC?
The worth of our church is far more than if you gave $10,000. It’s not nearly enough. If our church suddenly disappeared from the corner of Waverly Place and Sacramento Street, we would be sorely missed.
Because of the faithful and year after year of dedicated service that you do for the community and out to the far reaches of the world, you have brought value to the church of Jesus Christ because he has chosen you to be worthy of the gospel of Good News!
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord God, you have indeed blessed us and invested in us gifts, talents, abilities, and capabilities to perform your dynamic and valuable ministries here at home in San Francisco as well as calling us constantly to reach out to the far reaches of your world. Continue to grant us the confidence in our valuable resources to partner with you and with one another to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ who came to save the world. We are thankful, O God that you think that we are worthy of salvation that you gave up your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ so that we may have the promise and security of everlasting life. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.