S3: Sanctuary, Salvation, Service

Sanctuary. A sanctuary is both a safe and holy place. In a church context, these words are often contradictory. How can the sinner be safe in a holy place? For the sinner, safety means hiddenness, camouflaged in a sea of sin. Wouldn’t holiness leave the sinner utterly exposed and unsafe? This is where grace comes in. Grace – the undeserved and unconditional love of God – allows the sinner to experience the holiest of places as the safest of places. The Bible commands the sinner to boldly approach God’s throne, not after forgiveness and cleansing but before, so that the sinner may find grace and mercy. The concept of sanctuary is contrary to the way things normally work. We are gracious through limits and conditions, fearing abuse and exploitation. However, the grace of God is, by definition, undeserved and unconditional. This means that the free receipt of it, the use and abuse of it, and the unending nature of it are intrinsic to what grace is. Imbedded at the core of grace-theology is the bedrock truth that God is Creator, the source of everything – everything. All things are from him, and through him, and to him. There can be no other economy or biology or physics or any other way than the way of grace. Grace is the reality for which we were created. Our first problem is our rebellion against God and his grace, and a return to God’s grace is when life begins. God’s one and only plan to return us to his grace is grace. Sanctuary is nothing other than a fearless, humble, truthful community that continually leans into the way of God’s grace. Within the context of a holy and safe place can we experience: Life as a journey, and not as arriving; Acceptance as the only door through which transformation occurs; Truth about ourselves, our faith, our doubts, and our past; and the relevance and accessibility of God, his church, and his love. We believe that the call for community is a call to grace.

Salvation. God’s will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven, the Bible tells us. Should God do away with the earth? Should all good people make the great escape to heaven? No and no. God paints a glorious picture of a time to come when heaven will be brought down to earth, and so Jesus taught us to pray in such a way. This awesome task of bringing heaven home is what is summarized as salvation. Salvation is completely exhaustive: no more lies, death, evil, injustice, disasters – as the Bible succinctly puts it: no more tears. What is done and not done here on earth, in time and space, echoes for all of eternity. Our lives, communities, nations, systems, and ways need saving and that work lies before us. We are called to join God and fight personal demons, generational patterns, systemic callousness, societal injustices, national greed, religiosity, tragedy, and stupidity. God’s ways are often misconstrued, seemingly slow, often resisted by those who need it most. This is where Sanctuary comes in. We experience the grace of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ embodied through a safe and holy community. We are compelled to lay down our self-destructive weapons: sabotage, myopia, fear, self-justification, secrets, and sin. As fear gives way to confession, we can experience the life of God which calls us up and out into a suffering world. Our great Creator is always working to save – recreate – and that through us.

Service. God’s economy is absolutely efficient. Nothing goes to waste for nothing exists apart from purpose. In fact, the Bible tells us that not one word returns to him without having accomplished the very purpose for which it was spoken. And for certain, we have been created for a grand mission. Jesus told us that we will do far greater works than he. This is what we call service. God created us in his image and innate in all of us lies the courage, the propensity, yes, the need to give of ourselves. Service is the context in which we thrive and heal and experience life to the full. The healthiest of communities are so because they have reached out beyond their own walls to create sanctuary for and with others; mature and intimate devotion to God is nurtured by the great adventure of redemptive suffering; quality human beings are forged in the fires of the life laid down. Jesus often spoke of this paradoxical truth: to find, you must lose; to live, you must die; to be rich, you must know your poverty; to find true happiness, you must enter into places of suffering as redemptive agents of his love. How do we take such counterintuitive steps? Together, of course. This is what the Bible calls fellowship, that is, mission-driven friendship. Why should we risk our lives? Because Jesus showed us that death is but a door which opens to abundant life.

Let’s look at S3 in circles. This diagram illustrates how the values work together. The outer circle, Service, is the context which directs, purifies, and balances Sanctuary, the middle circle. And at the center of it all is God. We can explain much more extensively the theology and interconnectedness of Sanctuary, Salvation, and Service because at the core, we are really talking about life, and really about God who is infinite and incomprehensible. So we stop here for now, but please read on to get a better sense of our ministry philosophy, structure, and other implications of S3 as they are extended into the details of church and community life.

Apart from our enduring values, ministry philosophy – how we accomplish our vision – is probably the most important aspect of our church. In fact, the hows of a vision are the practical implications of the same. Why minister at all? The word minister means to give or to serve, and it is a direct derivative of who God is – Creator, Source, the Beginning. Nothing exists apart from his giving. And so we have a relentlessly missional God. We understand the whole of human history to be an unfolding one. There is a start, there are dispensations in the middle, a dramatic end, and then finally a tearless forever. Many of us have experienced churches that are insular, amputated, and circular. Many of our own lives are myopic and boring; it is no wonder that the churches we help to shape reflect our own lack of personal mission. Mission is the great context into which we are called. A missional context helps us to have perspective, put up good filters, see the road ahead under a certain grid, and gauge priorities. In large part, Jesus was so unpredictable and controversial because he was a man on a mission. Uniqueness does not justify Queenswest’s existence, effectiveness in her mission does. As a church of Jesus Christ, as his indwelt body, we exist to minister.

What is leadership? Sound leadership can mean the accomplishment of the greatest of human feats, while poor leadership inevitably leads to destruction and mistrust. We believe that good, solid, healthy leadership is something that we all have a deep yearning for, but ultimately this yearning is for nothing less than the connection to and the presence of Christ himself. Indeed, when leadership flows from Christ, that is the very definition of leadership. Let me explain. The Bible says that from God, and through God, and to God are all things. This means that there is no authority, i.e., leadership, apart from borrowed authority. The heart of the king, the Bible says, is like a stream in God’s hands; he turns it wherever he wants. Jesus concurs: A Roman officer comes to Jesus and asks him to heal one of his servants, but the way he asks for help is what is revealing. The officer requests that Jesus not come personally but only speak a command. Why? Because he himself is also a man under authority who understands how a chain of command works: his orders are obeyed since he carries the authority of Caesar, so will the sickness obey Jesus since Jesus is under the authority of God. Jesus commends the officer for his faith. Faith in what? Faith in God, that God is the sole authority under whom all leaders serve. So what is leadership? Leadership, by definition, is under-authority. Therefore, good leaders lead in a paradoxical disposition of divinely inspired courage and humility, tenacity and flexibility, sobriety and humor.

The implications of under-authority leadership are especially noteworthy where conflict arises. For example, if a husband and wife reach a point of apparent irreconcilable difference, the husband might insist that his wife “submit” to this authority as the head of the family. In an under-authority model, at the point of conflict, the husband and wife would seek “higher” authority, understanding that they need more light shed on the issue at hand. They would be working towards consensus and more submission (to truth) by moving “upwards” on the chain of command. Will there ever be times when consensus cannot be reached? Of course. However, at the point of decision-making, it would be clear that the decision maker is acting in submission and obedience as opposed to power and dominion, and hence the paradox. The under-authority may appear to be powerful but in reality is carefully and with humility obeying the One who is Power.

First who, then what. That’s our ministry philosophy in a nutshell. What we do, depends on who joins us. As the body of Christ, as under-authorities who are stewards of God’s gifts and purposes, we put people first. The start, the perpetuation, the effectiveness of any and every endeavor depend primarily on people. What happens when we have to choose between the continuation of the ministry or the well-being of the minister? We choose the minister. What happens if we have a need but there is no leader to start the ministry? We wait, pray, search, and reconsider. What happens if there is a great leader but no specific task for this leader? We bring her on and never let her go because we understand that getting the right people on the bus first comes first, and the specifics of her role will naturally emerge in due time. So we ask you, What dream has God planted in you? How has God gifted you? At Queenswest, you will find the support and streamlined structure you need to help you do what God has created you to do. That’s a promise. As only God can, he brings different parts of his body together to function in interdependent and coordinated efforts to bring heaven to earth.