Three Lessons from Our Church’s Recent Break In
Introduction
Last Thursday morning, some volunteers for our church’s backpack ministry opened the church building to find my office door opened and my tobacco-scented candle burning. That may not seem odd until you consider I was in Alabama at that time visiting family. On Wednesday night, some burglars broke in and stole some items from our offices. This morning news broke that the suspects have been arrested and other churches were targeted and vandalized. You can see more here. By God’s grace all our church needs to do is replace some things and file some paperwork. Below is a list of lessons I’ve learned from this experience.
Thank God for Law Enforcement
I’ve lived in and traveled in parts of the world where police abused their authority and harmed the innocent. Every now and then you see reports of that happening here in America. Regular every-day citizens feel betrayed, scared, and paranoid. However, the vast majority of the time we take for granted those who protect good and punish evil (1 Peter 2:14). God gives civil governments legitimate authority to resolve disputes and execute justice in ways isolated families, churches, and individuals cannot. I don’t want to live in a world without godly laws and good law enforcement. I thank the Laurens County Sherriff’s Department for their work in our incident. I’m impressed with the conduct of the deputy working our case and the department’s arrest speed of the suspects. Praise God for good law enforcement!
Church Buildings Matter
Since the break in, I’ve been speaking with the chairman of the deacons about ways we can fortify our church building. One thing I’ve learned in our conversations is how little attention church’s like ours give to planning, building, and stewarding our properties. Throughout Friendship’s history, the congregation added three different structures to the old sanctuary with little thought to how the entire structure could be used as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful the space our church building offers. I also know architecture preaches as well as any sermon. Where some church buildings preach about a transcendent God who makes beautiful stained-glass of color, others preach about a God who’s living off food rations in a run-down garage. Our church building at Friendship preaches something too and it seems the thieves are listening.
Social Contagion
If you look at the mugshots at the two suspects, you will see two young faces looking back at you. I wonder how many vacation bible schools these young people attended in their childhood and how many times their grandma made sure they went to church on Sunday. Laurens County has a church on every corner which, if our churches were healthy, would deter lawlessness instead of invite it. This reminds me of immunity. Early vaccines would inject the body with a weakened strain of a virus in order to train the body to fight off the real deal. Today, the secular culture of Laurens is immune to the church because we’ve been weak. Criminals aren’t afraid of offending God because we haven’t preached He punishes sin. Until sinners learn God punishes sin, they won’t appreciate that He saves sinners (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
Conclusion
The fact that criminals break into multiple churches shows that a reformation needs to take place among God’s people here in Laurens County. But in order for any reformation to occur, God’s people must first demolish and clean up the idols we’ve placed in our sanctuaries. Let’s not be like King Hezekiah when he learned that his future grandchildren will be taken captive and their sanctuary robbed—“at least there is peace in my day” he said (Isaiah 39:8). Let’s thank God for justice and pray for reformation. Let it begin in our church buildings!