How the Church is Different From Apollo 13
The story of Apollo 13 and the movie that was made about it have captured the imagination of many people since that terrifying incident in space.
There is an accident on Apollo 13 and they need the scientists at NASA to help them to fix a problem with the carbon dioxide removal system. If they didn’t the astronauts would die in space.
Back at NASA, they realized that the only way to devise a solution was to limit themselves to that which was onboard Apollo 13. There is a powerful scene in the movie where they dump a bunch of parts on a table back on earth. Whatever solution they came up, could only use what was on that table.
This sometimes feels like the way ministry is in a local church. We have limited resources. We have a specific building (owned or rented), a certain amount of money in the bank and only so many people in the congregation. We look at what we have and we look at what we want to achieve and see the gap.
While I do believe that we need to take a good look at our available resources and we must take them into account, we are not Apollo 13. The difference is that Apollo 13 was a closed system and the church is not.
What I mean by this is that we believe that the church is more than a human organization with a constitution and a bank account. We are the means by which God is building his kingdom on earth.
This doesn’t mean that we make rash decisions. We don’t just rent a huge stadium assuming that God will provide the money. There can be a fine line between faith and foolishness. Some churches find out the hard way.
But at the same time, we are not completely limited by our human resources. The key is to discern God’s leading and being willing to step out in faith when the way is clear.
I have been involved in very small churches that have accomplished far more than what would be expected based on the resources available. That is because we were not a closed system. We were not Apollo 13.
This is something that I need to continue to remind myself as a pastor of a small church. If we have to do this without God, then, “Houston, we have a problem.”
