Is the Church an Extracurricular Activity?

One of the trickiest issues for a pastor is working around the schedules of the people. Jesus called for us to be in the world, so we can't require so much time from our people that they become isolated from others. At the same time, genuine ministry involves relationships, and a person struggles to grow when isolated from the Body of Christ. But is attendence an indication of commitment? And does our response to conflicts in scheduling reflect our strongest commitments?

This is one of the busiest times of the year for high school students. Even as I type that last sentance, I begin to doubt its validity. Aren't our student's schedules pressed from January to January. In our home town, it's the good students who now attend summer school, because their schedule won't allow them to fit all their classes into the school year. Sports camps are all through the summer, because instruction during the school year would have interfered with traveling teams with which they participate. Then you pile on a pursuit in the arts, and club memberships and general high school experiences like prom, homecoming, and taking your ACT's. Their lives are full.

Where does discipleship through student ministries fit in?

That very question bothers me. It suggests that somehow, the very process of turning a person into a disciple of Christ is an activity that should be shoehorned into a life wherever their is extra room. Are we participating in the Body out of what's leftover of us, after all other events, instead of vice versa.

Where does this issue lie? Lately, I've been wondering if it isn't in the rewards system we offer. I can't offer a student a letter jacket for their faithfulness to Christ (how would I even define sucess?). We can't dangle the carrot of financial scholorships for higher learning before our students. Their participation holds little to no value in their acceptance to a college (even in the Christian colleges). I certainly can't/don't give them a grade. Mom and dad can't enjoy sitting in an audience, listening to people applaud/cheer their student on for their faithful walk. And so all the rewards are in the extracurricular's corner.

Except two.

1) Their is an immediate reward. I am by no means suggesting that skipping youth/church due to an ocassional conflict is guaranteed to set a person back in their walk with Christ. To the contrary, there are probably times that attending another event, and influencing those around you, will heighten your walk more than your attendance to youth group. However, I am baffled by the mother who recently was in my office, telling me that she can't wait for a conflict for her daughter to pass so she can be back in youth group. She basically confessed that this time of year is always a spiritual drought for her daughter, as she is isolated from a Christian community due to the conflicts her activities present. She can't wait till the conflict is over because she knows she'll see a difference in her daughter's walk. Yet at this point, I know the parents would place their daughter right back in the same conflict as before. Why?

2) Spiritual reward is most often unseen, by definition. To do something in faith often requires it be done without sight. Is it making a decision of devotion and commitment to the Lord if all of the benefits are immediately visable and attainable? Are we content to forego the world's reward system (potentially even call upon its condemnation/persecution) for the sake of a rewards system that may not be evident this side of eternity? Yet isn't that which comes by faith always greater?

As a church, we try to do all we can to avoid "busy work." Our people don't need events just for the sake of the event. But when we do plan something, how do we convey that it is planned for the spiritual development of the participants? And then, how can we fairly articulate our displeasure when someone fails to see the priority as such?

I am not calling for a legalistic, "everytime the doors are open, we need to be there" attitude about the church. But I also don't see it as an extracurricular activity. Participation in the Body of Christ is a Biblical mandate (and participation goes well beyond Sunday morning attendance). If we NEVER say no to an extracurricular activity when it conflicts with our participation in the Body, are we truly commited to the Body?