Being involved in church is not as important as being involved outside the church

This is my third post for today.. and it's only in the afternoon.. See? This is what happens when I lack sleep.. or is it the other way around? Maybe I have too many things in my head and that's why I can't sleep. Anyway, I was being asked the question yesterday, by someone important- an adult.

He asked me, "So, Anna,.. are you involved in church?"

And I answered, "I used to.."

"Used to? How come?"

"Well.. let's just say I retired.. haha.."

Someone else, who overheard the conversation said, "There is no such thing as retiring when it comes to serving in church."

"I know, but give others a chance also la.."

No comments from the rest.

Okay, let me explain myself..

Firstly, let me explain my church and how we have changed our missions over the years.. we are NOT, i repeat, NOT focused on evangelism. We are, in fact, focused on nation transformation and Kingdom issues. And in these, we are to go into the world, not being called to go into the church. We have, therefore, little activities that involves around the church- minimum, in fact. The only activities we have are kids, performing arts and Kingdom Club (a business men and women fellowship), of which I am only involved in the first two.

Performing arts (The Voice) plays some sort of an annual role in the church- normally presenting during National Convention and Christmas, and sometimes, Easter, which would just be a simple performance- nothing fancy. The greatest productions are normally Christmas Productions, prepared months in advance, starting from somewhere in June. The National Convention is normally prepared weeks to a month in advance. And lastly, the Easter performance, normally involving only a handful of seasoned crew, a week to three in advance.

I used to be very involved in the Performing Arts group, before they were called 'The Voice'. Those were one of the best days of my life- so many sweet memories.. ah.. yes, those were the days when we would camp for about a month together- doing nothing but practicing our different dances.. it was beautiful to be part of a team, so bonded as a family.. we cooked for each other, cleaned up with each other.. played together.. you name it.. Some even tried to commit suicide together (inside story), but yeah.. those were the days, back when I was in primary school till high school..

Then what happened? Well, not to say that I am no involved with The Voice anymore, but hey.. to be honest.. my reason is really stupid. Other than the approaching final semester, I had a more accurate reason- I was scared. Yeah.. so now you know? Why scared? Well.. I have been performing in church from as far back as 8 and have been every year ever since. But I guess.. people change. My reason is very simple, and very stupid. Hence my long explanations to avoid the simple fear I had- adrenaline.

Haha.. yes.. I'm very simple in fact (not!). I'm scared when I get up on stage.. and when I reached college, I told myself.. that I had enough. Every flipping presentation got me more and more afraid. Why the sudden change? Well.. I'm not that random, there were some external causes.. like.. the performing arts group decreased its quantity presentations to quality presentations during that time, and so instead of presenting every alternate month or so, we presented like twice a year- such a sudden drop in my momentum. It was hard to face the crowd when I finally needed to, after all those months- I was not used to the adrenaline anymore.. I lost confidence and I became afraid, added to it, my physical stamina dropped and I would black-out easily. When I practiced for a dance item, I would tell myself,.. "Okay.. this is my last one.. not going on after this." And then Christmas would come and I volunteer to dance again.. and I will be like "What the heck?" and then I got 'smarter' and resorted to drama, but then realized that the adrenaline was seriously taking its toll on me.. and I would simply say, "Okay.. no more presentations.. presentations are just not for me."

Yea, call me chicken, whatever.. so I decided to become a scriptwriter- somewhere away from the spotlight but hey,.. I've got the heart for it.. I loved writing, anyway, poems, stories.. what not. But the first script I wrote was a total disaster- my greatest regret of today. Everyone thought the story was about me, I mean- what could be worse than that? The script was horrible.. Although it made people cry when they read it, especially people who could identify with it. No, it was a happy ending, thank you for wondering, but.. it never materialized- the group that was supposed to present it chickened out because it was too.. corrupted. Don't figure. I had another idea for a script, though.. told some influential people about it, but.. they said it was too difficult because they didn't have anyone to play 'God'. So.. yet another discouragement.. I guess I give up too easily, but these two scripts meant a whole lot to me, so yeah.. I was disappointed, so kiss me..

So my role as a scriptwriter vanished into thin air.. just like that, so yes, I am in The Voice group, but what's my role? I have no flippin' idea.. lately, I tried something new- supposed to play the violin for Christmas- no kidding. Took up classes months in advance. Never practiced and never made it for class.. Violin still here, lying down comfortably on my bedroom floor next to my guitars.. I practiced a little,.. seriously.. enough to play one or two songs, and I bet that if I just sticked to one song, I could pull it off with my violin teacher- Cheryne. But well.. had my dissertation coming up.. So I said byebye to that idea. So yes, I was supposed to be involved this Christmas, I just didn't have the time. And perhaps if I stayed on and be involved, my answer to the above question, "Are you involved in church?" would have been a "Yes, quite..".

I guess I answered "No" because I compared myself to some people who had church activities every other time of the day. Considering the amount of activities we had in church.. My church didn't have that many activities. But if I considered the percentage of my activities among all my own church activities, I would probably get a high percentage, just by being involved in that one performance, it would be close to 100%. Haha! Get it?

My goodness, I can do a theses on this. It's really long, no? And I'm not done yet- I just started. Now I'm just done with talking about my church. Now, let's get to the second issue I was to discuss- me.

As the title of this post suggests- Being involved in church is not as important as being involved outside the church. Allow me to involve a little of my church's mission here- nation transformation and kingdom issues. Where is all that? Outside the church, as I said. The people in the church are not in need as much as the people out there. I'm sorry, but my ministry calls me to get out there, not stay in here. And the leaders of my church all agree that the real mission field is out there, not in here. It is the pride of my church, in fact that we as members are out there, and not in here- no, I'm not kidding. Thus the reason for minimum church activities. We are not church-centered (now, don't get me wrong, I didn't say all the other churches are) but they'll become like us, one day. It's just a matter of time.

My church is a forerunner church- it's our calling to go ahead and pioneer things a decade or so before other churches get into it. And for that, we get through much persecution.. much. Like the one I might be getting right now, for not being involved in church. No, I'm sorry, but being involved in church is not everything. It is something, yeah.. but not everything. It's significance still stands, yes.. where it should. There are bigger fish to fry out there.. and no, I don't have time for church stuff.. I want nation stuff.

No, I'm not boasting.. I'm just trying to open your eyes to bigger things. My ministry is into education.. the marketplace. Here is where the people are. Not in the church, no. And I'm tired.. I'm tired of all those presentations that get only a handful of people saved every year- we DON'T have time for that. That is NOT the main issue out there. People are dying.. and getting them saved will get them to heaven, yes, but how many, exactly? You know what's ironic? Let's draw up the charts, shall we? You say those meetings are evangelistic, how many people actually get saved? 10 each meeting? Yes, I know, for each soul saved, the whole Heaven rejoices.. is everything just about getting people saved? You think that is our mission on earth- to get people saved? Oh boy.. now we are getting wayy off topic.

Okay, that is a different issue altogether.. but what's so bad about going off topic? This is after all, my blog.. and there's nothing to be too honest about here. I'm just lazy to explain all from Adam and Eve's time.. Okay, so when God created them, He gave them a mission- now let me ask you- what is the reason God created human beings? Is it to preach the gospel? To who? Adam preach to Eve and Eve preach to Adam is it? No, wait.. God created Adam first, so who is he supposed to preach to? The animals? God? No.. why did God create the flippin' Adam for? Some would answer, 'to worship Him'. Are you sure? But He had the angels to worship Him. Does God actually need us to worship Him? You think He got more powerful when we did? No.. His power can't possibly be measured.. then? Or do you really think God is that vain that He just adores being worshiped? No..

God did NOT create us simply to worship Him. He created us to have a relationship with Him. He created in His likeness, to be His sons and daughters, to love Him. And in that package of being sons and daughters, He created us in His likeness. Now, what is the likeness of God? God is.. all powerful, am I right? He created us like gods on the earth- to have dominion over the seas and the dry land- to fill the earth, multiply, subdue it.. This is the kingdom principle. Dominion in the center of God's will. So that God, not us, would reign over the earth. The Kingdom includes the 7 pillars, Peter Wagner has researched. Arts, Business, Church, Culture, Education, Families, Government.. all I know is, it's ABC..

Okay, anyway.. where was I? Yea,.. as for me, I am more into Education, so I shall focus more on that,. it doesn't mean I can't be involved in church, I still am, but what I mean is.. being involved in church is not everything. Do NOT persecute people who are not involved in church. God doesn't require everyone to serve in the Church. God does, however, require everyone to serve OUTSIDE the church.

My friends- they are people whom I should be caring for.. take them out when they are having problems.. then they cry, they share, and I share to them about Christ. It doesn't happen all the time, but if you have enough friends in need out there, and if you're there for them, trust me.. you'll get your hands full.. because there is always someone in need. And if you're too busy with your church routines, lay them down, give others a chance, and go be that one friend to help them. Because helping your friends are more important than being involved in church. You don't have to counsel them or anything- just be there for them, happy times, sad times,.. if you're there enough, they will know who to look for when they need a shoulder to lean on and cry on. But if you're busy.. you're just going to miss that chance when it comes. Like I said,.. it doesn't happen all the time. It comes randomly.. and you never know which friend will be in need next..

This is another reason why I don't want to get caught up with all these practices and trying to get my timing and dance moves right.. trying to reach the right key, trying to play the right role.. because who am I doing them for anyway? My friends, right? Then how can I abandon my friends for these practices? I can't.. trust me, for all you evangelicals out there.. I get more friends saved driving them around in the car than practicing my dance steps..

* tRUST & OBey the LORD *