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Throughout history the Church has routinely sought money and power, to put it nicely, in an attempt to make disciples of Jesus and in order to advance the Kingdom of God. At our worst, we have pursued money and power to satisfy our own selfish desires. (Do I need to give examples?) Yet, it seems to me that Jesus taught that money and power were not the way in which his Kingdom would move forward. In fact he tells people to give up their money, give up their positions of power, and take up the role of a servant (Matt 19:21, Matt 20:26).

When Jesus' disciples where arguing over "which of them would be the greatest." Jesus told them " . . . [H]e who is least among you all -- he is greatest." (Luke 9:46-47). Jesus also said: "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." Jesus did not usher his kingdom in with power. He was born in a barn. He was a poor working class kid, from a provincial town. During his ministry years, he didn't have a "a place to lay his head." (Matt 8:20) His ministry was supported by the charity of women (Luke 8:3). His life was ended in shame as he allowed himself to be tortured and crucified.

But, is any of this news? As Christians we should know this. Well, how do you think I felt when I found myself yet again thinking, "if only I had some money, I could do so much for God." I've got so many ideas --ideas for ministry, business, job training, education, addiction recovery, missional ideas. I have thought of so many ways to spread God's Kingdom, but I don't have the money or influence to do any of it. I have too many ideas to implement myself, and I certainly don't have the time to get them going since I need to work full time. But, if I had money . . .

Jessi and I help out at a church here in Medford, which is mainly populated with recovering addicts and people with mental illness. And, this is because our church reaches out to addicts (one of the pastors is in recovery), we reach out to the mentally ill, people who are homeless. Most of the people who go to our church are poor; many of them live in poverty. Many of the people in our church are African Americans -- and there aren't many of them in Medford. Many of these people have been beat down and cast out from society.

The head Pastor is a man with vision. He started and oversees a program that provides long-term housing for people who would otherwise be homeless. Just this year he was able to get grants from the state. He edits and distributes a Christian newspaper. But, he wants to do so much more. There are so many needs. One thing we need, in order to do much of what we desire, is a new building for the church. There's a church building downtown that would be perfect, but our church can't afford the asking price. We could do so much more if we had that building. This is what I was thinking about when it hit me -- I think money and power is the answer to my problems. I think money and power are needed for God to be glorified.

It would be nice to have the money some churches communities have. It would be nice to have their facilities. It would be nice to have their rich patrons. It would be nice to be able to fulfill the grand visions we have. But, in the meantime all I can do, all I really have the time for is teaching the youth on Sunday (many days there's only one) and facilitating a Bible study on Wednesdays (for that we average about six people, two of them being my wife and I). It's nothing grand, or groundbreaking; it's not the next big idea in church growth -- I won't be able to write a book about it. We've got little money, little power, hardly any influence. But, I suppose ministering to outcasts and kids may be the very thing Jesus meant when he referred to "the least of these"(Matt 25:40). So, we just might be doing something that has eternal value.