Keeping The Main Thing, The Main Thing

This is part 2 of my response to the formation of a new ‘denominational entity’ called the ECOP.  You can read the first post here.

The Main Thing is to keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing

Max Dupree

One of the stated reasons for launching the ECOP, is to restore the ‘missional’ nature of the church. The PCUSA, we are told, has become so bogged down in bureaucracy and squabbling about ‘fringe’ issues, it has lost its core, its passion and its ability to effectively engage in Christ’s mission to the world.

I get it.  Who would want to be a part of a church like that? Not me.

That’s why I love telling people about the Zimbabwe Mission Partnership. It is a prime example about being ‘missional’ and keeping The Main Thing, The Main Thing.

It began as a simple project:  Ralph & Roberta Pippitt came back from a trip to South Africa with a proposal to send some books to a school they had heard about in Zimbabwe. It was one of those ideas that caught on and grew. Not only books were collected, but school equipment and furniture, too. So much was collected that Ralph and Roberta decided to go along to make sure things got where they were supposed to go.  That was 15 years ago.

What began as a simple project to send books to a school in Zimbabwe got bigger and bigger. After the first year it became obvious that this was too much for one church.  

Denver Presbytery was restructured about 15 years ago to encourage churches to work together in mission.  The Zimbabwe project became an early test case and a great example of what can happen when churches join together around a common mission.  Seven churches joined together to form the Zimbabwe Mission Partnership (ZMP). Over the years, the ZMP has grown to 11 churches with the Yellowstone Presbytery as an Associate Member. You can read all about the ZMP here.

A brief summary of their work includes:

• More than two dozen 40’ shipping containers of supplies, clothing and equipment have been sent.  Do you know how much stuff can fit into a 40’ container?  A lot.
• The school has been completely remodeled and made safe.
• Wells have been dug and sanitary facilities have been constructed. 
• A feeding center has been constructed and staffed.  It currently feeds about 1,000 orphans two meals a day.
• Several clinics have been repaired and equipped.
• Several projects have included self-sustaining efforts, including a sewing co-op, stone carvers getting their sculptures to America, a Poultry Project and planting a grove of Moringa trees.

Those are a few of the highlights, but you get the point. For a more complete picture, click here. While you are at the site, check out Team Zimbabwe and the Elephant Rock Ride.  Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised through this creative and collaborative effort alone.

Here’s a secret: the churches that comprise the ZMP are not all the same. It includes churches that would be classified as liberal, conservative and moderate. What’s more, the orphans don’t seem to mind. The teachers, aid workers, parents and community have never inquired as to the theological positions of the member churches. Never. Their concerns are more basic. 

Efforts like the ZMP are an example of what it means to keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing.  Lives are being saved. Children are being nurtured, fed and taught. The poor are being helped and communities are being transformed in the name of Jesus Christ.  It couldn’t happen without the participation and sacrifice of all the churches involved. It also could not exist without the structure, support and assistance of a presbytery that is structured around mission and ministry.  The ZMP is just one example of churches of differing size and theological viewpoints coming together around a common passion for mission.  Our experience has been that when the need is compelling enough, and the way is made clear enough, churches of every theological stripe step forward. Their differences are important, they just aren’t all-important.

This story gets even better, but that will have to wait for the next post.  For now, I want to go back to the question I raised in the first one:

How is ECOP and what they claim to want, different than anything that could be done within our current denomination?

Let me ask this question in a different, more troubling way:  How will a new ‘denominational entity’ that results in more division and less cooperation, help the orphans in Zimbabwe? How will fewer resources help feed, clothe and educate more kids? What efforts in Zimbabwe are helped by a church that is split and resources that are siphoned away?

Each church will have to answer this for themselves, of course. Perhaps some churches will decide they need to move in order to be more engaged in mission, true to their calling in Christ, and free from stifling bureaucracy and endless s squabbling with those who see things differently. All I can say is that our experience and the experience of the Denver Presbytery shows, there is another way (the next post will illustrate this even more).

In my last post I said that while I understand and respect those who are seeking a fresh start with the ECOP, I am not convinced they have chosen a better way forward. In fact, I believe it will just be a distraction. In fact, I think it is even more serious.  If this new effort, undermines the very missional capabilities of churches and presbyteries it claims it wants to enhance, then it is more than a distraction, it is a tragedy. We will have failed to keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing.